News & Analysis

March 24, 2017
Case Management Monthly

How many of us have a successful mentoring program established in our organization and department? For most organizations, I would venture to say mentoring is performed on a piecemeal basis and is likely not as effective as it could be. Far too often, mentoring efforts are disorganized and lack a dedicated trainer. If any training is given, it often consists of the same general orientation afforded to all new employees, regardless of the job they will be doing.

March 22, 2017
HIM Briefings

This month's Q&A answers readers' questions about release of information, using whiteboards in patient rooms, and breach response.

March 21, 2017
Medicare Insider

This week's note from the instructor concludes our discussion on multiple notices that hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAH) are required to provide to outpatients and inpatients in particular situations. The focus this week will be on streamlining hospital notification processes to avoid the necessity of recreating the wheel each time a new notice requirement is implemented.

March 21, 2017
Medicare Insider

This week’s Medicare updates include an OIG report regarding hospital noncompliance with Medicare Requirements for billing outpatient right heart catheterizations with heart biopsies; a new educational initiative to raise awareness of chronic care management; quarterly updates to the ESRD PRICER; and more!

March 20, 2017
Briefings on HIPAA

Breaches are expensive and the price tag increases when preparation and formal documentation are lacking. One of the challenges of tracking security incidents and determining if a breach of PHI or PII is a reportable breach is developing a consistent assessment process and building a centralized breach tracking system.

March 17, 2017
Case Management Monthly

The following is a question and answer form created by Ronald Hirsch, MD, FACP, CHCQM, vice president of the Regulations and Education Group at R1 Physician Advisory Services in Chicago, to help outline some basics regarding the complex rules surrounding the three-day qualifying stay required, which Medicare requires in order for patients to qualify for the skilled nursing facility (SNF) benefit.You can use this as a starting point to create your own physician and provider training materials on this topic. Ensuring that providers are well-trained on this topic can help ensure patients get accurate information, which can make these discussions less difficult. 

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