Today's nurses have more demands on them than ever, with high patient loads and an increasing number of tasks to complete. Often, this increases the likelihood that certain aspects of care may be missed?whether it's needed education on insulin injections that weren't provided before discharge or a patient who develops a pressure ulcer because he or she wasn't turned often enough.
Developing a strong denial management program may be one of the best ways to minimize the productivity and financial losses anticipated with the transition to ICD-10. By determining a baseline for denials and proactively identifying denial trends, organizations can efficiently resolve issues and reduce costs. An effective denial management program will help organizations to track, trend, resolve, and ultimately prevent denials.
I was recently discussing the state of EHRs in regard to the poor quality of the documentation with a colleague who has been a practicing HIM professional for more than 35 years and currently works for a large group of hospitals as the coding director.
Having recently returned from teaching the HCPro Accreditation Specialist Boot Camp, I was reminded that our medical staffs continue to have challenges with documentation requirements that have existed at least as long as most of us have been HIM professionals. I thought it was a good time to remind HIM professionals and their medical staff of 12 documentation requirements that are still a major focus during Joint Commission surveys, and persist in being a record completion challenge.
CMS released its proposed rule for stage 3 of the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Programs (https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2015-0668...) in March. The intention is to simplify the EHR Incentive Programs, drive interoperability, and allow providers to further focus on patient care. The rule proposed a transition to a single meaningful use stage, with stage 3 being the final stage in the program. It would incorporate portions of stages 1 and 2.
