Imagine a hospital as a sentient being that holds within it all things necessary to heal you from illness or injury. The HIM department, or medical records department, is this being's memory. Without it, there would be no continuum of patient care. Sometimes, it's the hospital's memory that serves to produce an otherwise overlooked diagnosis.
It's a brave new world out there for business associates (BA). BAs needed to comply with the HIPAA Security Rule and the use and disclosure provisions of the Privacy Rule in February 2010 as a result of the HITECH Act. However, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) held off on any enforcement activities-that is, until recently.
Eligible professionals (EP), eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAH) that cannot demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs could soon face Medicare payment adjustments. But CMS has an important message for providers: There's still time to prove meaningful use and avoid adjustments.
The July 2013 MRB article I wrote discussed the importance of competency and skills testing in the workplace relative to new and evolving roles in the HIM department. In this issue, we discuss "not knowing what you don't know." In other words, there is a significant knowledge gap about the importance of EDMS in EHRs.
There is some common ground in the corrective action plans (CAP) that OCR has imposed on healthcare organizations it has investigated for HIPAA privacy and security deficiencies.
Our experts answer questions about NCCI edits for injections, modifier -25, modifier -59, laminotomy with insertion of Coflex distraction device, billing mammogram for needle placement, and auditing electronic orders.
