HIM Briefings

Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Mattoon, IL developed a productivity incentive plan for their coders and transcriptionists. For the hospital, the bonus plan serves as a retention and marketing tool, not to mention it has increased productivity, and the staff members appreciate it, too.

On December 30, 2009, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology  published the interim final rule for EHR certification standards, and on January 13, CMS issued the proposed rule on the EHR Meaningful Use Incentive Program and meaningful use standards in the Federal Register.

CMS has once again contracted with the TMF Health Quality Institute to release Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Reports (PEPPER) data in 2010.

The AMA added many new HCPCS G and J codes for 2010. Use this quiz to test staff members’ knowledge of the new codes.

You receive a letter in the mail requesting copies of medical records for an audit. It looks much like the one you received the day before, but the return address is different. And they both look quite similar to the other request for documentation you received last week. 

Just getting started with your transition to an EHR? Consider these five tips from experts in the field as well as some of the providers who’ve been in your shoes.

On August 19, 2009, HHS released its interim final rule on breach notification of unsecure protected health information (PHI) and the acceptable methods for covered entities (CE) and business associates (BA) to encrypt and destroy patient records to prevent breaches.

The start of the new year typically ushers in a multitude of code changes. But for 2010, there is an important change in Medicare’s payment of E/M codes many hospitals may have overlooked.

CMS finalized its proposal to stop paying for consultation codes (99251–99255 and 99241–99245), according to the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule, published in the November 25 Federal Register.