From the Important Message from Medicare to the discharge instructions, case managers juggle a myriad of forms throughout a patient stay. CMS added another form to the list when it implemented the face-to-face encounter requirement for home health referrals.
For years we have heard that EHRs improve the quality of clinical documentation in the medical record. While this is absolutely true in terms of legibility, it may not be so true otherwise.
HIM's management of the patient portion of the Vanderbilt Medical Center's patient portal MyHealthAtVanderbilt (MHaV) may well make it unique, but the approach has paid off, says Anne Dixon, RHIA, manager of medical information services in Vanderbilt's HIM department.
When Carolyn Taggett, RHIT, director of health information services at Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent, found that it sometimes took weeks for coders to receive answers to their physician queries, she decided there had to be a better way.
Jean Stone, RHIT, CCS, has never met some of the coders who report directly to her. She has, however, spoken with them by phone, and in some cases, she has seen their wedding or other photographs. This is because nearly all members of her department work remotely.
