As we begin to close out the year, it seems to be a good time to reflect on some of the challenging standards hospitals faced in Joint Commission surveys during 2011.
Editor's note: In 2011 we're celebrating MRB's 25th birthday with special content each month. For October, we've put together a report on the latest quarterly benchmark survey findings, this time on ICD-10 implementation efforts. Just a few of the highlights from the report are included below.
CMS finalized a documentation and coding adjustment (DCA) of -2% for fiscal year (FY) 2012, according to the inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) final rule. CMS originally proposed a year-over-year reduction of 0.5% in payments to acute care hospitals, including a DCA of -3.15%. However, CMS finalized a cut of 2%, a decrease from 2.9% in FY 2011, which translates to $1.13 billion more in hospital payments in FY 2012 than hospitals received the previous year.
No industry or profession is immune to the budget crunch. Unfortunately, many coding departments fall into a routine and neglect to assess their costs and look for innovative ways to save money.
Q A fax containing PHI is sent to an incorrect fax number. Did the covered entity (CE) or business associate (BA) violate HIPAA? Must the patient disclosure accounting record include this incident?
