For many people, the new year brings the promise of a fresh start, which is one of the reasons why we often make New Year's resolutions. These resolutions date back to ancient Babylonian times, when people would make resolutions to gods during the vernal equinox. But for HIM professionals, a New Year's resolution often means establishing and abiding by organizational timelines, training your workforce, and updating technology.
Using a credentialed coder with computer-assisted coding (CAC) can increase coder productivity and lead to more accurate inpatient coding than using CAC alone, according to a study conducted by the AHIMA Foundation in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic and 3M Health Information Systems.
Coding for sepsis is often easier said than done. Obstacles range from difficulty distinguishing between documentation for sepsis and related conditions to trouble with physician queries.
Time is of the essence. With less than a year until the ICD-10 deadline, there are many items that organizations need to cross off their checklists as we get ready to go live. Unfortunately, organizations aren't all in the same place when it comes to ICD-10 readiness.
Q . Is it permissible to take pictures of patients (including behavioral health) for identification purposes as a part of the registration process? Do the patients need to sign a consent form before their picture can be taken?
Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series that analyzes the 2014 inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) final rule. This month we discuss the final rule's impact on inpatient status criteria. We will address quality-of-care changes in the next issue of MRB.
This article is based on the results of MRB's quarterly benchmark survey. This month, we chose to survey respondents on EHR implementation and challenges.
So what's it like from the HIM professor's point of view? We catch up with 37-year professor Anita Hazelwood, RHIA, FAHIMA, program director of HIM at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
The July 2013 MRB article I wrote discussed the importance of competency and skills testing in the workplace relative to new and evolving roles in the HIM department. In this issue, we discuss "not knowing what you don't know." In other words, there is a significant knowledge gap about the importance of EDMS in EHRs.
