HIM Briefings

Finding themselves at the center of a tumultuous, dynamic healthcare environment, physicians are becoming increasingly frustrated and anxious, frequently questioning their career choice. Preparation to be a lifelong healthcare provider inadequately prepares clinicians for the emerging value-based healthcare world to which they are being subjected. Physicians believe that they have little control over or input into the metrics that are rapidly determining their fates with healthcare organizations, third-party payers, and inevitably patients themselves.

It's a prevailing trend?HIM directors and managers are overworked and underpaid. The results of MRB's 2015 HIM director and manager salary survey shows this trend remains firmly in place, although it does indicate these professionals' annual earnings have seen a slight uptick.

Throughout the years, this column has focused on the important role the electronic document management system (EDMS) plays as the official legal health record (LHR) within a healthcare organization, and especially as a critical workflow tool for the HIM department. I am always surprised to hear that there are still some facilities that haven't figured this out and purchased an EDMS.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) have announced the release of two proposed rules designed to improve care delivery and experience and to enhance the sharing of electronic health information.

It has been a long time since The Joint Commission has published frequently asked questions (FAQ), which serve as a great resource for clarification of standards and elements of performance. Generally, FAQs originate with questions from the field that continue to be asked over time.

Q: I realize that you cannot compel your staff to complete Occupational Safety and Health Administration training online on their own time. However, I am wondering whether the same applies for HIPAA training. Must this training be conducted during work hours, or can we provide workforce members with a deadline by which to complete training on their own time?

CMS' Conditions of Participation for UR include specific requirements for the composition of the UR committee, specifying that it must be composed of at least two doctors of medicine or osteopathy.

Last month, we laid the foundation to promote successful engagement of the coding and clinical documentation improvement teams in PSI 90 performance improvement efforts.