HIM Briefings

HIM directors must renew efforts in the new year to ensure the effectiveness of EHR quality monitors. With increased attention on HIPAA 5010 requirements and instituting ICD-10, focusing on the quality of your medical records may sometimes take a backseat to other priorities. However, as inaccurate data tends to affect all areas of HIM-not to mention patient care-taking an active role in developing quality measures will ultimately save time and money in the long run and help ensure quality care for patients. Developing a plan for managing ­data integrity before issues occur will free up time for HIM staff to focus on other initiatives.

Just when you thought you had your RAC processes in place, more changes appear on the horizon.

Use this quiz to test coding staff members.

Coders must learn and adapt to several new conventions in ICD-10-CM. Consider the following.

First we had patient tracers, then system tracers, and now second-generation tracers! Wow!

On October 1, 2013, the ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCSclassification systems will take effect, and should result in better data capture nationwide. The change means healthcare organizations urgently need to educate providers on the importance of improved patient care documentation.

Test staff members' knowledge of HIPAA with these questions from readers.

In November 2011 we asked readers all about their HIPAA compliance efforts, from training to HITECH changes and more.

Times are changing, and, most likely, so are the jobs of your HIM staff members.

The death of an infant at an Illinois hospital made ­national news in June 2011. Genesis Burkett passed away due to a series of errors tied to human use of the hospital's EHR systems. (The infant was born prematurely to parents who had been trying to conceive for years, and had thrived after months in neonatal intensive care until he was killed by a massive sodium chloride overdose. (You can read more about the case in the Chicago Tribune at http://tinyurl.com/8xtdqrp.)