Archive for the Week of October 12, 2004
Archive for the Week of October 12, 2004
Welcome to the medical billing blog archive for the week of October 12, 2004.
Here you will find links to every article added to the Outsource Management Group web site during the week of October 12, 2004.
You can browse this week's archives by clicking the "More" button from any of the excerpts below.
Abbreviations – Do They Really Save Time?
“In this day and age of accelerated documentation and compliance requirements and pressure to reduce risk exposure, multiple abbreviations and acronyms are used to expedite the required written processes and still provide time for patient care. Unfortunately, clear, correct, concise communication as well as patient safety suffers because of the habitual use of these shortcuts.” As the federal Department of Health and Human Services moves forward with proposed changes in coding systems using SNOMED (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine by the College of American Pathologists) as a standard, habits of abbreviation must change to comply. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and other accreditation bodies are starting to …
HIPAA Civil Monetary Penalty Extended…
Regulations establishing procedures for the imposition of civil monetary penalties for violations of the privacy, electronic transactions and security rules of HIPAA will remain in place for another year, according to an interim final rule issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The procedural rule was slated to expire, but HHS opted to extend it until Sept. 16, 2005, to “avoid disruption of ongoing enforcement actions” while the agency continues to develop a “more comprehensive enforcement rule,” AHA News Now reported. The interim final rule did not address the 19 comments submitted to HHS in response to the original procedural rule, including those of the American Hospital …
