Blast From The Past

submitted by Emily Macko, RHIA, President

"Dr. Nesbit, from St. Raphael's Hospital discussed a new and novel field in hospital work, which is the use of photography.  He exhibited cameras such as are used for "Candid Camera" shots which are being used in St. Raphael's Hospital for taking pictures of interesting cases, both of the field of operation and operations as they are being done.  Dr. Nesbit stated that the chart of the future might be filed in small envelopes as photographic plates about one inch square, which might be enlarged as they were needed subsequently."    

 Excerpted from Hospital Medical Records Librarians Association of Connecticut, May 22, 1937, GraceHospital, New Haven. 

Volunteer Opportunity

  Click HERE to learn more about the ICD-10 CEU requirements set by CCHIM

President's Message

 Dear Members,

Spring is approaching and this brings a time of new growth.  New growth applies to our Health Information profession similarly as it does for any business wanting to expand or even your own personal career.  So let's spend a few minutes talking about volunteerism.

Grow the action habit and volunteer!  Each of us have probably been in situations in which we wanted to volunteer for some type of activity, but didn't. Why?  Perhaps because of fear?  It's only natural, but a volunteer stands out and most importantly the volunteer gives him or herself the  opportunity to show others that they have special abilities and ambition.  Think about volunteering for all those special assignments that come your way.   People place confidence in the person who acts; they naturally assume they know what they are doing.   Isn't this a goal of our profession?  We want people to know what we do and do it well.   So here are a few tips to remember about volunteering:

• Be someone who does things. 
• Don't wait until conditions are perfect.
• Do what you fear and fear disappears
• Take action and dig in.
• Think in the terms of now.
• Seize the initiative.

I welcome Spring and all the new lift it brings.   Please take a few minutes to think about volunteering and if you are approached to volunteer - Get in Gear and Go!

Sincerely,

Emily Macko, RHIA

President CTHIMA

CTHIMA's Recent Education & Business Meeting

        submitted by Emily Macko, RHIA, President

The March educational session was held at the Holiday Inn in North Haven.  There were 30 attendees with 6 speakers for a total of 6 CEU's provided.  Unfortunately, one speaker cancelled at the last minute and being the flexible professionals we are, our Past President Linda McKone who has recently taken a new position with the Red Cross rounded out the one hour session with a talk on preparing yourself in the event of a disaster.  Remember, there are all types of disasters, i.e. fires, floods, hurricanes, etc.   It provided for a lively discussion.   John Brady, CFO and VP of Business Planning  for CHA and Affiliates discussed "MU" aka  Meaningful Use and what will be required of hospitals to meet the regulations.  Our own Director, Alison Nicklas, RHIA, CCS, Director of Health Information & Privacy Officer spoke on her Coding Apprentice Program at St. Francis Hospital.  Items covered were coder shortage, quality auditing and ICD10- Preparation.  After a networking lunch, members were educated on how Computer Assisted Coding has entered coding realm with technology to assist the coder utilizing electronic/scanned records to collect documentation for DRG assignment, but still allows the coder to assign the final codes.  This was presented by Tim Minnich, Senior Sales Representative - A-Life Hospital.    Robert Manning, Chairman/CEO Phoenix MedCom, Inc spoke of  the integration of transcription and the EMR utilizing Natural Language Processing.  The final speaker of the day was Heather Kaliden, Regional Sales Manager IOD Incorporated  who spoke on Best Practices for Imaging Services, i.e. cost, productivity, turnaround.   The day turned out to be a successful event, with a profit made for the association and evaluations returned revealed many positive comments. 

Additional upcoming sessions will be announced as they are formalized and we hope to see you soon.

March 17, 2011 Business Meeting

The March Business meeting was held during the Educational Session.   It was announced the Board has moved forward with "virtual" Board meetings due to travel and time constraints of the Board members.   It presents a new way for the Board to do business without meeting face-to-face and is being received well. 

Finances were discussed and expenditures will be forthcoming for Board member attendance March 28-29 at  Hill Day in Washington, DC and the New England Conference in May 1-3 at the Mohegan Sun.    For those members not familiar with Hill Day, AHIMA sets time aside for Board members to attend Winter Team Talks and schedules appointments for the Board members to meet with their respective senators and congressman to discuss hot topics at hand, i.e. Meaningful Use, ARRA-HITECH,  ICD10, Education and Workforce and setting professional standards of excellence through certification. It provides the opportunity to speak and reinforce how these initiatives impact our profession and workplace.   

The Board is in discussion of providing an EHR-Legal Health Record session in either June or July. Watch for announcements.  

In our Communication arena, two members have agreed to sit on the Advisory Board for Sanford-Brown College.   This link will provide the opportunity to share required skills students need in today's work environment.

Lastly, the Board received feedback on the cancellation policy for attendance at the Educational Session.  There were pros and cons from the attendees during the session on whether a full refund would be returned if the attendee signed up and was not able to attend.   The Board has taken under advisement all comments and will be reviewing the policy.   

The Business meeting came to a close with the suggestion members contact the Board through the CTHIMA Website for future comments and concerns. 

Do You MU?

 Second article in a series  by Karen J. Lawler, MPS, RHIA, Director HIM and Privacy Officer, Stamford Hospital, Stamford , CT. Karen is a 2^nd year Director serving on CTHIMAs Board. 

As Hospitals finalize decisions to either go for Meaningful Use certification for FY 2011 or wait until FY 2012, compelling HIM considerations are at the forefront.  Managing data, completeness and patient access has never been more challenging.  All of our collective skills and knowledge as HIM professionals are on display.  And while Stage II , nor Stage III  have reached finalization for publication, there are critical points that require examination and action.  Lets review a significant function for HIM departments in any facility or physician practice, release of information:

Under Stage I, and also part of HIPAA, patients may receive an electronic copy of their record upon their request.  In order to meet and measure Stage I, it is the patient who must receive the electronic copy, copies directed to attorneys, payors, or another 3^rd party, need not apply!.  When requested, the facility has 3 days to satisfy the request.  The information must be complete, and generated from a MU certified system. While HIPAA required that requests are satisfied within 30 days, 100% of the time, to meet MU stage I criteria, requests for electronic copies need to be satisfied within 3 days of request and the facility needs to meet this requirement 50% of the time.  At minimum, the following must be provided; test results, problem list, medications list, medication allergy list, discharge summary, and procedures. 

HIM professionals all over applaud the ability to empower patients, which is the overall intent of much of the regulation.  However, the devil is in the details.  As you peel back the requirements you will evaluate your processes, and may ask the following questions:

-          Are the minimum required elements complete within 3 days of discharge?

-          Are the discharge summaries complete? Unsigned and contain blanks?

-          Do I have the minimum elements?  Many facilities are currently struggling with problem lists. 

-          Are they maintained in a certified or soon to be certified version to satisfy MU?

-          How will I provide an electronic copy?  CD?  Flash drive?  Portal?

-          Do I have a good handle on the ROI process?  What other departments do I need to work with?

-          Should I have a communication strategy in hand for the patients?

-          If I work with a 3^rd party vendor, how will I need to set the expectation for turnaround?

Whether you are moving toward Stage I this year or next, as you examine each requirement there are companion HIM processes that require consideration, and planning.

I encourage you to visit AHIMA's website for excellent articles and toolkits on each of these subjects.

Do you MU?

New England Conference

Coding Corner

On March 24^th CTHIMA held their Coding Roundtable at the CPABuilding in Rocky Hill. Cheryl D'Amato, Director for HIM Solutions for Ingenix, presented an ICD-10 Workshop Entitled:  "Instant Immersion into ICD-10-CM/PCS". We had 54 attendees at the Roundtable from many different facilities. Yale new haven Hospital, Middlesex Hospital,  CT. Children's Hospital, Masonicare, John Dempsey, just to name a few, were in attendance. This was a very intense non-stop entrance into ICD-10 ( except for brief 15 minute break ).  Judging from the evaluations the coders in attendance really enjoyed Cheryl and her presentation and are looking for more from CTHIMA.

The Roundtable  Agenda consisted of the ICD-10-CM General Structure Changes, which included:

·        Code Structure Changes

·        Coding Convention Changes.

·        General Guideline and Concept Changes.

The program also coved the review of guidelines and concept changes for assigning diagnosis codes in ICD-10. This included:

·        Coding Guideline and concepts changes per chapter

·        Assigning diagnosis codes using the ICD-10-CM Index and Tabular List.

The 2^nd half of presentation consisted of ICD-10-PC  and included:

·        ICD-10-PCS benefits

·        ICD-10-PCS overview, structure, coding conventions and guidelines.

·        Medical and Surgical section overview by:

o       Root operation definition and application

o       Using the index and constructing codes from the tables. How to build a code.

·        Overview of Obstetric Section. 

There were also time for review questions and examples.  So as you can see there was a lot of information and education handed out at this meeting. The Coding Roundtable committee is also looking to have Cheryl do more presentations on the different body sections in ICD-10, as  trying to provide the coding community with the education needed in both ICD-9, and ICD-10 over the 2 years until ICD-10 comes in.  We will be sending out a survey asking you if you would like Sat. sessions, evening sessions, and site locations. Please look for the survey and respond, because this is the only way we can provide you what you want and need.  Stayed tuned for more to come on Coding Roundtables.