HIM Briefings

To take a proactive approach to the RAC process, you will need to assess your current level of financial risk. You can do this internally or with the help of external resources. There are many good risk evaluation software tools on the market for hospitals and health systems; there are also consultants who specialize in reviewing hospitals' claims for proper coding and documentation to assess overall compliance risk and make suggestions for corrections. Once you identify and quantify your risk, you can begin to take action to mitigate the impact of a RAC audit of past claims and to improve your systems to avoid being out of compliance in the future.

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.

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.

2011 Coder Productivity Survey

Test your knowledge of HIPAA: Is it permissible to leave voice messages on ­patients' home or work phones reminding them of appointments? Is it okay to use stickers on the outside of a patient's chart to remind us of his or her payer source?  I need to take copies of documents home to finish up my clinical notes. Is this a violation of HIPAA?

There are some Joint Commission EPs with which ­almost all hospital HIM departments struggle. Surveyors continue to focus on them, so chances are you should too.

Even with today's tight budgets, there are still ways you can brighten the faces of your staff members. We asked the MRB advisory board members for their best ideas and tried-and-true tactics. Here's what they had to say.

When President Obama signed into law the HITECH Act as part of ARRA in February 2009, it meant a bevy of changes to the existing HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Enforcement Rules.

In what instances would a dual system be necessary? What impact, if any, will ICD-10-CM/PCS have on transcription? What about form redesign? Find out the answers to your colleagues' ICD-10 implementation questions.

Establishing coder productivity standards can be ­challenging if you don't know where to begin. There are many factors affecting productivity levels, from record type to the tools coders have available to them. 

­However, establishing fair standards for your coders is ­important, as is knowing whether your department is running efficiently.

HCPro conducted a detailed benchmarking survey earlier this year of HIM directors and managers nationwide to bring you the latest information on coder productivity levels and standards so you can compare your department to its peers.