New at CARE
Hello. My name is Leslie Fox and I'd like to welcome
you to the inaugural issue of The CARE
Dialogue, a free monthly publication from Care Communications,
Inc. Our goal is to engage healthcare executives and
HIM thought leaders in a Dialogue about the most pressing
health information management issues and challenges
facing our industry. Advancing HIM practices in healthcare
organizations is a collaborative process between senior
management and HIM leadership. While today's reality
is managing HIM activities in a time of prolonged economic
distress, healthcare executives and HIM professionals
are stretching to achieve tomorrow's vision of electronic
health records (EHRs) and electronic health information
management (e-HIM). What will it take for you to succeed
today and tomorrow? The CARE
Dialogue will feature discussions with successful healthcare
executives and HIM professionals who are working together
to meet the goals of excellent patient care, regulatory
compliance, and cost-effective operations to capture
emerging best practices. Meeting rising expectations
of patients, physicians and other medical record users
is a daunting challenge that will best be met by thoughtful,
collaborative leadership. It is my hope that The CARE
Dialogue will become a rich resource of fresh, relevant
ideas and new perspectives for our readers that will
help you make good decisions in your own organizations.
We encourage you to reach out to our editorial board
of recognized HIM thought leaders with your suggestions,
comments or questions. You can reach us here: info@carecommunications.com
HIPAA Privacy: Is your organization in compliance
with the privacy rule?
When asked about next steps to assure compliance with
the privacy rule, HIPAA consultant Gwen Hughes said,
" It's tempting for organizations to think that their
privacy rule related work is complete now that policies
and procedures are in place and the work force has been
trained. The truth is that there's more to do. Organizations
need to make sure the content of privacy related training
is understood and that the workforce is adhering to
new policies and procedures." Toward this end, she's
provided readers of The CARE
Dialog with a tool to help measure compliance with the
patient rights portions of the privacy rule. To access
this tool, click this link: HIPAA Privacy Rule Compliance Checklist.
e-HIM: Advice from Virginia Mason
E-HIM refers to the practice of Health Information Management
in an electronic environment. Examples include remote
coding and implementation of the electronic health record.
Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) in Seattle, Washington
is making the transition to eHIM. Leslie Fox and Patty
Thierry recently interviewed Julie King, RHIA, administrative
director of clinical systems at VMMC who shared what
VMMC is doing to make sure their e-HIM projects are
successful. To access that advice, click here. e-HIM: The End-User Perspective
Internal Coding Guidelines: What they are and
why your organization needs them.
When asked to define internal coding guidelines, Melissa
Payne, RHIA, CCS explained that organizations need to
formalize the internal rules to which they expect their
coders to adhere. For example, does the organization
expect a series of infusions to be coded once for the
entire series, or each time the patient presents. She
explained that such internal guidelines supplement AHA's
official coding guidelines and that adherence to both
helps assure accurate and consistent coding.
Security Rule: What should you include in your
2004 budget for security rule implementation?
Most health care providers must comply with the security
rule by April 2005. The HIPAA security rule requires
that covered entities establish administrative, physical
and technical safeguards for protecting electronic health
information. Prior to April 2005, organizations must
perform a risk assessment, develop and implement policies
and procedures and train their workforce. As you prepare
your 2004 budget, don't forget to budget for: 1) A risk
analysis. You'll want to budget extra staff or the services
of an external vendor if your organization has not yet
performed a risk analysis.2) You'll want to budget for
the procurement and implementation of measures your
organization will need to take in order to reduce risks
and vulnerabilities to a reasonable and appropriate
level. 3) Workforce training. If the privacy training
was effective, request security workforce training funds
in an amount similar to that used for privacy.It's important
to begin security rule compliance activities now so
as to be well on the way to compliance before 2005.
Publisher:
Leslie Fox, MA, RHIA
Editor:
Gwen Hughes, RHIA, CHP
Editorial Board:
Sue Danforth, RHIA
Roberta Peters, MS, RHIA
Patty Thierry, MBA, RHIA, CCS
Dianne Willard, MBA, RHIA, CCS-P
