During the January injections and infusions audio conference, Jugna Shah, MPH, president and founder of Nimitt Consulting in Washington, D.C., and Valerie A. Rinkle, MPA, associate director with Navigant Consulting in Seattle, reviewed these scenarios.
Q. My email remains encrypted until it is opened. I have received two requests-via email and certified letter-from the patient's parent requesting records be sent by email or mail. I know legally a person may request this, but we must provide this service when we can ensure that the person requesting is who he or she says he or she is. Does a certified letter with recognizable signature or email from a known email address of a parent qualify as verification of the parent's identity?
Coding for sepsis is often easier said than done. Obstacles range from difficulty distinguishing between documentation for sepsis and related conditions to trouble with physician queries.
Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series that analyzes the 2014 inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) final rule. This month we discuss the final rule's impact on inpatient status criteria. We will address quality-of-care changes in the next issue of MRB.
Time is of the essence. With less than a year until the ICD-10 deadline, there are many items that organizations need to cross off their checklists as we get ready to go live. Unfortunately, organizations aren't all in the same place when it comes to ICD-10 readiness.
Q . Is it permissible to take pictures of patients (including behavioral health) for identification purposes as a part of the registration process? Do the patients need to sign a consent form before their picture can be taken?
