October 2018

How AI & natural language processing technologies can improve outcomes: Q&A with RCCH HealthCare Partners CMIO Dr. Vishal Bhatia

By Jackie Drees for Becker’s Hospital Review Vishal Bhatia, MD, chief medical information officer at RCCH HealthCare Partners in Brentwood, Tenn., discusses the evolution of his role as CMIO and how artificial intelligence, natural language processing and voice recognition technologies can improve healthcare. Responses are lightly edited for clarity and length. Question: How has your role…

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Nurses, surgeons among jobs with widest gender pay gaps

By Megan Knowles for Becker’s Hospital Review Registered nurses and physicians/surgeons were listed among occupations with the biggest gender pay gaps, according to a report from the American Association of University Women. The report authors compiled research on gender pay gaps across U.S. jobs. In comparing occupations with at least 50,000 men and 50,000 women in…

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CMS bid to overhaul E/M codes leaves few happy

With its proposed changes to payments and documentation for office visits, the agency is effectively forcing providers to reckon with a longstanding, oft-disputed problem. By Tony Abraham for Healthcare Dive Most healthcare players agree the evaluation and management billing codes used by CMS need an overhaul, but few like the manner to do so proposed…

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Police use woman’s Fitbit data to arrest suspect in her murder

By Julie Spitzer for Becker’s Hospital Review The San Jose (Calif.) Police Department used heart rate data from a murder victim’s Fitbit to determine when she died and ultimately capture the man charged with killing her, The New York Times reports. A co-worker found 67-year-old Karen Navarra dead in her home on Sept. 13. Ms.…

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Book excerpt: Back to query basics for streamlining HIM, coding, and CDI teams to promote successful practices

By Chris Simons MS, RHIA for ACDIS Blog As the coder or CDI specialist reviews the documentation, he or she will identify opportunities to clarify diagnoses or even to identify conditions that were not previously documented but may be possible given the patient’s presentation. By querying the physician while the patient is still in the…

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Patient satisfaction is up, but billing woes can hurt online reviews, survey shows

By Meg Bryant for Healthcare Dive Dive Brief: Front-office issues like billing and scheduling can have a big effect on how patients view their medical encounters and how they review them online — and providers would be wise to take heed. That’s the takeaway from Connance’s 2018 Consumer Impact Survey. The predictive analytics firms surveyed…

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Medical schools falling short in educating students on machine learning

By Greg Slabodkin for Health Data Management While healthcare is experiencing an explosion of interest in artificial intelligence and machine learning, medical schools must do a better job of educating future clinicians about the technology. That’s the contention of researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine, who published a perspective article on Thursday in…

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Orca bites, spacecraft accidents & more: 15 weirdest ICD-10 codes

By Angie Stewart for Becker’s Hospital Review Carevoyance compiled a list of unusual ICD-10 codes to highlight the level of specificity ASCs, hospitals and medical practices must capture, according to Chief Commercial Officer Katie Vahle. Here are 15 highly unusual ICD-10 codes: 1. W5621XA: Bitten by Orca, Initial Encounter 2. X52XXXA: Prolonged Stay in Weightless…

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Physician pay stagnates and women report lower salaries, PracticeMatch says

By Beth Jones Sanborn for Healthcare Finance The largest increase from 2016 to 2017 attributed to Emergency Medicine, a specialty that saw nearly five percent growth. What Happened  PracticeMatch’s annual physician survey showed physician pay has stagnated, female doctors are still being paid less than their male colleagues. That said, among both genders overall job…

Read MorePhysician pay stagnates and women report lower salaries, PracticeMatch says