In recent years, the federal government has been pushing hospitals to help their patients self-manage chronic conditions. If patients and families aren’t able to sufficiently self-manage their conditions within 30 days of discharge, hospitals may incur reimbursement penalties when these patients are readmitted or need to come back to the emergency department, says Karen Zander, RN, MS, CMAC, FAAN,president and CEO of The Center for Case Management, Inc., in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
When Spencer Johnson wrote the iconic book, Who Moved My Cheese? An A-Mazing Way to Deal With Change in Your Work and in Your Life, he probably didn’t have the homecare industry in mind. But with the speed of reimbursement and regulatory issues surrounding us today, he certainly could have.
The new ICD-10-CM codes for FY 2018, effective October 1, represent significant changes in our documentation and coding practices. Please consider some of these changes and determine whether your documentation or billing habits require an update.
This week's Medicare updates include the Medicare Claims Processing Manual Chapter 15 Update; the Assistant Inspector General for Evaluation and Inspections Office testifies before congress; revision of the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) Manual; and more!
This month's Q&A answers our readers' questions about releasing protected health information via a health information exchange, sharing patient information with law enforcement, and paper record retention requirments.
