medical coding

Electronic Medical Records Probed for Over-billing

Critics question credibility of federal panel charged with investigating By Fred Schulte for The Center for Public Integrity The Obama administration is forging ahead with a multi-billion dollar plan to shift from paper to electronic medical records, despite continuing concerns the program may be prompting some doctors and hospitals to improperly bill higher fees to…

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ICD-10’s Heavy Footprint

By Susan Chapman for For The Record Everyone knows ICD-10 will redefine the coding profession, but providers and patients also will feel its power. A means to classify and track diseases and a mechanism for data collection and reimbursement, the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) has experienced many changes over the years. Way back in…

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Who Will Be The Steve Jobs Of Healthcare?

By Joon Yun for Forbes Hospital, heal thyself. Almost everyone feels ill when thinking about the rising cost of healthcare in this country; it already stands at a gut-churning $2.7 trillion per year. Similarly, most folks find hospitals uncomfortable, even frightening. Both high costs and low satisfaction share a root cause: Poorly designed medical infrastructure.…

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Bargain Over Fiscal Cliff Brings Changes To Health Care

by Julie Rovner for NPR The bill that prevented the nation from plunging over the fiscal cliff did more than just stop income tax increases and delay across-the-board spending cuts. It also included several provisions that tweaked Medicare and brought bigger changes to other health care programs. The health care change that got the most…

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Leapfrog’s New Safety Report Card Alarms Hospitals

by Cheryl Clark, for HealthLeaders Media Some 25 hospitals, including 520-bed Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, received a failing grade of F, while another 121 hospitals, including the Cleveland Clinic, got a barely passing D in the release today of the controversial Leapfrog Group Hospital Safety Score, an effort to inform patients…

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Safeguarding Patient Data in EHRs

From SmartData Collective A recent blog by the HIPAA, HITECH & HIT legal blog of Fox Rothschild revealed a survey administered by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services (HHS). The EHR (electronic health record) technology questionnaire is part of a study on fraud and abuse safeguards…

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Medicare Is Faulted on Shift to Electronic Records

By REED ABELSON for The New York Times The conversion to electronic medical records — a critical piece of the Obama administration’s plan for health care reform — is “vulnerable” to fraud and abuse because of the failure of Medicare officials to develop appropriate safeguards, according to a sharply critical report to be issued Thursday…

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Continuing Connectivity Struggles Lead to Declining Satisfaction Scores for HIE Vendors

Press Release found at Digital Journal OREM, UT, November 06, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ — Across the health information exchange (HIE) market, providers are expressing dissatisfaction with their vendors as connectivity issues persist. This and other key findings were released in a new KLAS report “Health Information Exchange 2012: Muddled in Interfaces.” More than 200 providers weighed…

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