Editor's note: In 2011 we're celebrating MRB's 25th birthday with special content each month. For October, we've put together a report on the latest quarterly benchmark survey findings, this time on ICD-10 implementation efforts. Just a few of the highlights from the report are included below.
Over the course of the past 30 years in the HIM field, I have observed much trial and error on the part of HIM managers who have been pioneers in the EHR journey.
With 46% of survey respondents anticipating revenue losses from the ICD-10 transition, it may appear illogical that only 3% of healthcare leaders say they are already prepared to make this transition. However, the reason behind the unpreparedness is quite understandable. With mounting mandates and competing priorities, healthcare leaders say they cannot free up the manpower or financial resources needed to get this initiative under way.
Gloryanne Bryant, RHIA, RHIT, CCS, CCDS, regional managing director of HIM (Northern California Revenue Cycle) for Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, compiled a sample list of some of the terms coders are likely to see when coding for wound care. Consider sharing this reference tool with your coding staff.
CMS has proposed to rescind the requirement for signatures on all lab requisitions, according to the "Medicare Program; Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule: Signature on Requisition" proposed rule published in the Federal Register June 30. The 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, published last November, requires a physician's or nonphysician practitioner's (NPP) signature on lab requisitions for tests paid under the clinical lab fee schedule, regardless of whether there is a signed order. This is the opposite of prior CMS rulings that indicated signatures were not required on requisitions, although written and signed orders were required.
The Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER), distributed either quarterly or annually depending on the type of facility, contains large amounts of data on how a facility compares to others in the same state, the same jurisdiction (i.e., the same Medicare Administrative Contractor), and nationwide in terms of coding and medical necessity target areas. (Find out more at www.pepperresources.org.)PEPPER identifies when facilities are outliers in their reporting of multiple risk areas. For coding, those areas are:
