Q. Can paper patient records be kept in a public storage unit? The storage company we are considering has a digital entry at the main gate. We would also have a keyed lock on the storage unit door.
This year's Recovery Auditor Benchmarking Report surveyed 325 respondents, representing both small and large hospitals, from all four Recovery Auditor regions. It may not come as a huge surprise to many that the main theme of this year's survey is the expanding state of the Recovery Auditors (RA), and the fact that they continue to gain speed and extend their reach.
It is an ongoing challenge for case managers to determine whether a patient is more appropriately placed as an inpatient or in observation. Below are some real-life examples provided by Deborah Hale, CCS, CCDS, in the HCPro book Observation Services: A Guide to Compliant Level of Care Determinations.
If there's one conclusion that OCR is ready to draw from the 115 HIPAA compliance audits conducted last year, it's that there is plenty of room for improvement.
Everyone knows that CCs and MCCs are under scrutiny these days. However, that doesn't mean hospitals should err on the side of caution when reporting these conditions. William E. Haik, MD, FCCP, CDIP, director of DRG Review, Inc., in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., provides several tips that coders can employ to look for clinical evidence in the record before querying for these targeted conditions.
