In case preparing for ICD-10 and recovering from the Omnibus Rule isn’t enough, it looks like another federal rule—health plan certification for HIPAA compliance—is in the making from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The new proposed HIPAA rule, which comes as another attempt to standardize healthcare administrative transactions, is currently under development. […]

  The world’s top Olympic athletes all answer to a coach, so why don’t managers and CEOs do the same thing? Coaches can offer valuable feedback, helpful suggestions and loads of real life examples. They are vital to an athlete’s success. You need look no further than to the 2014 Winter Olympics for hundreds of […]

Is your organization leaking money? Could your revenue cycle be to blame? Every year, healthcare facilities spend huge amounts of money chasing past-due payments. But isn’t there a better way? InsidePatientFinance.com delivers a smart article that points out the benefits of a strong point-of-service or pre-service collection. They include: • Boosting cash flow. • Reducing […]

Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or, yes, even CaringBridge, the vast majority of Americans use at least one form of social media to interact with others. Studies clearly indicate this does not stop when employees come to work. Is this a problem? Does it put your organization at risk? Where do you start with policies […]

We rang in the New Year last week, but with that celebration comes trepidation among the healthcare community. After all, we’re now less than nine months away from ICD-10’s Oct. 1 2014 implementation date. Will it be nine months of struggle to prepare for the major shift? In late 2013, the Workgroup for Electronic Data […]

The Coming ICD-10 Cash Flow Crisis and How to Avoid It The transition to ICD-10 will not be without its issues. Mona Engle, RN, CEO/Practice Administrator of Drs. May Grant Associates, is concerned about coding outcomes. “If something is not coded correctly, the insurance company will not pay — so we have to do it […]

The Coming ICD-10 Cash Flow Crisis and How to Avoid It How can your practice avoid having cash flow issues in the last part of 2014? It will take planning, training and support from your employees, partners and vendors. This will certainly not be solved with a simple EHR software change—especially since you don’t yet […]

The Coming ICD-10 Cash Flow Crisis and How to Avoid It ICD-10 is the tenth revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD). ICD is a diagnosis classification system whose initial version goes back to the Black Plague, when European governments and medical professionals were trying to compare causes of […]

As of the date of this post, we still don’t know when we will begin using ICD-10. Regardless, it is imperative that everyone understand how they can influence and support workflow processes within your organization today. It doesn’t matter if we’re using ICD-9 or ICD-10, detailed and complete clinical documentation is so important. We can […]

I haven’t mentioned 5010 recently as it seems to be the never-ending story. On March 15, 2012, a mere 16 days prior to the re-stated enforcement date of March 31, 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced another HIPAA 5010 compliance delay in the enforcement of HIPAA 5010 standards until June 30, […]

Almost every day there’s a new article on the reasons for and against the ICD-10 delay, and predictions for when the CMS will make its final decision. So, how do you keep your staff focused on the end goal? A realistic communication and education plan for ICD-10 is critical to ensuring your organization’s most important […]

Remember the game Jenga? Each player takes a turn carefully placing a rectangular wooden puzzle piece on top of the last; soon there’s a tower that is very susceptible to any knee-jerk puzzle placement. In healthcare, there are many initiatives piling up much like the tower of Jenga; and we need to be careful with […]

  Industry experts suggest the ICD-10 conversion will be more time-consuming, costly, and complicated than the preparation for Y2K. Some studies indicate the cost of transitioning to ICD-10 for a hospital can be between $1 million and $5 million, and for a large healthcare system, it could amount to over $5 million. During the transition, […]

There’s one thing that will never change at your practice or organization. That is patient satisfaction is critical to your success. As ICD-10 preparation activities occur, it’s important to recognize how your transition plans impact the patient’s experience. Prior to implementing ICD-10, pay special attention to the tests or procedures that are scheduled for October […]

Flash forward to February 1, 2014, four months after your practice or organization has started using ICD-10 codes. As you review how well the transition went, what do you see? Was your practice or organization successful in…maintaining coding accuracy and productivity; retaining a stable accounts receivable position; and sustaining a viable cash flow? These three […]

You get the OCR audit notification letter and the panic begins. You are one of the ‘unlucky’ providers or health plans to be audited as part of the OCR’s HIPAA HITECH audit program; what do you do first? During & After the Audit On the OCR website, it details each step of the new HITECH […]