Medical Billing Blog: Section - Medical Coding
Archive of all Articles in the Medical Coding Section
This is the archive containing links to all articles written in the Medical Coding section of our blog.
Click any of the article links below to read the entire article or browse another section to the right to read articles on another subject.
Harnessing Effective EHR Use for Improved Patient Care
Improving EHR use can help reduce physician burnout and strengthen the patient care process. When healthcare providers understand how to best leverage new technologies and are able to adopt and implement an integrated EHR system, both patients and providers will benefit. That has been Kaiser Permanente’s top goal with its EHR safety net programs, looking to reduce errors in the diagnostic process. Kaiser Permanente has developed a total 54 EHR safety net programs, which are collectively called KP SureNet. The programs have helped to close major care gaps over the past few years. Michael Kanter, MD, Medical Director, Quality and Clinical Analysis, Southern California Permanente Medical Group explained to EHRIntelligence.com …
3 Key Tips for Ensuring a Smooth EHR Replacement
Physician and nursing dissatisfaction with an EHR system could lead to long-lasting problems within a healthcare organization, such as fueling administrative burnout and patient engagement. Opting for an EHR replacement is not a decision that should be made lightly, and organizations often look toward new options when they begin to encounter certain issues, both technical and cultural. A smooth EHR replacement process is not always guaranteed, and organizations will need to make well-informed decisions throughout the entire implementation process. Each healthcare organization is different, and will have varying requirements when it comes to EHR selection. But considering the needs of physician and nurses, finding an EHR system to meet an …
Do you study the competition of your practice?
No matter how new or old your medical practice is, it is important to identify your competitors and evaluate their strategies to determine their strengths and weaknesses relative to those of your own. Understanding the competition is a crucial business activity for any physician owner. Some practices hire professionals to track competitors and assess the competitive landscape on a regular basis. But it doesn’t always have to be a complicated, time-consuming, and expensive process—particularly given the new wealth of data that can be assembled using the internet. By investing even a small amount of time, physician practices of any size can develop a framework for making competitive assessments, gather intelligence …
Collaboration Can Aid EHR Use and Adoption in Behavioral Health
Perceived ease of EHR use and perceived usefulness of the technology itself are driving factors toward EHR adoption with physicians in behavioral health, according to a recent study. However, there is still resistance to EHR adoption within behavioral health, which could be eased through greater collaboration. Working collaboratively to mitigate concerns about workflow burden can help improve attitudes toward EHR use, explained a study published in AHIMA’s Perspectives in Health Information Management. Additionally, collaboration can “demonstrate the value of EHRs to improve professional practice, efficiency, safety, effectiveness, and patient outcomes.” “Despite the advances in and wide availability of health information technology, many behavioral healthcare clinicians have not adopted EHRs,” wrote …
RCM tip: Consider Revenue Cycle Outsourcing
Outsourcing the revenue cycle management process can prove beneficial for healthcare organizations, according to Joel Gleason, senior vice president and global market head of the provider segment at Cognizant. Mr. Gleason shared the following tip with Becker’s Hospital Review. “For hospitals and standalone healthcare providers, it’s all about delivering top-quality care, not necessarily managing the revenue cycle. Collecting payment is crucial to success. But chances are it’s not a core competency. “In fact, 57 percent of businesses outsource because it allows them to concentrate on what they’re good at, according to Deloitte. Focusing on the core business is the second most popular reason to outsource, just two percentage points behind …
RCM tip: Reduce costs through patient blood management
Hospitals and health systems should focus on patient blood management to improve quality and reduce costs, according to Joseph Thomas, BSN, RN, national director, clinical optimization for Accumen. Mr. Thomas shared the following tip with Becker’s Hospital Review. “Comprehensive patient blood management programs are an essential part of enterprise-wide strategic initiatives and are proven to reduce the utilization of blood by up to 60 percent with improved clinical outcomes. This is consistent with a strategic vision of enhancing innovation in patient care at a lower cost as healthcare initiatives drive value-based care and population health management. “A critical component of accelerated success and sustainability is establishing a strong clinical infrastructure …
Choosing an EHR for its Usability
“The usability of the system is probably the most important factor in making an informed choice of which EHR to use for your practice. Most every bit of software says that it is easy to use, but how can you choose an EHR that is actually usable? We recommend choosing an EHR that is ONC certified. The MU2 certification program required that EHR vendors have a user-centered design approach, and submit a summative usability evaluation as part of their §170.314(g)(3) Safety-enhanced design certification submission. These usability documents are made available to the public on the CHPL site. Look at the published usability document for the EHR that you are considering. …
Increasing EHR use of problem lists among clinicians can save money
Healthcare organizations, policymakers, and health IT developers can take steps to increase clinician EHR use of problem lists for improved health outcomes and clinical efficiency, according to researchers from the University of Utah Department of Biomedical Informatics and Intermountain Healthcare. Hodge et al. conducted a systematic literary review of 848 full-text articles and included 110 articles in a thematic analysis to gain broad insights into the characteristics that define a useful EHR problem list, as well as the myriad factors that contribute to its success as a resource. Ultimately, researchers determined there is a need to improve problem lists in ways that encourage increased utilization by clinicians. “There is also …
RCM tip: Use an automated solution to tackle claim denials
As healthcare organizations continue to struggle with claim denials, an automated solution can help limit the issue, according to Kevin Lathrop, president of TriZetto Provider Solutions, a Cognizant company. Mr. Lathrop shared the following tip with Becker’s Hospital Review. “One way to keep denials from happening in the future is by stepping away from the manual processing that takes place at a computer terminal, and replacing it with an automated claims and denials system. An automated system has the benefit of knowing payer codes. Treatment codes change over time and must be kept up-to-date. Keeping track of them by hand is difficult and time-consuming, but an automated solution has the …
Trump Admin Shares Vision for Patient-Centered Health System
The Trump administration, led by Jared Kushner, director of the Office of American Innovation, and Seema Verma, administrator of CMS, spoke about its plans to put data in the hands of patients at the annual Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) conference, held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The administration announced its new initiative, MyHealthEData, which aims to break down the barriers preventing patients from accessing and controlling their medical records. “Patients should have access and control to share their data with whoever they want, making the patient the center of the health care system,” Verma says. Part of MyHealthEData will include the revival of the Medicare Blue Button initiative, …
