HHS has released the long-awaited notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on the changes to the HIPAA accounting of disclosures. The rule, formally titled "HIPAA Privacy Rule Accounting of Disclosures under the HITECH Act," was printed in the May 31 Federal Register.
Coding productivity will decrease at least initially with the switch to ICD-10-CM/PCS. Coders will also need complete, accurate documentation to take advantage of the new code set's increased specificity. So HIM and coding managers need to know how productive their coders are and the extent of their clinical knowledge base, as well as how accurately and completely physicians are documenting.