Hot Topics – Article Archive

INSIGHTS, INTELLIGENCE AND INSPIRATION FOUND AT #AHIMACON18

HIM Scene
Last month’s HIM Scene predicted important HIM insights would be gained at the 90th AHIMA Annual Convention. And this prediction certainly came true! Thousands of HIM professionals discussed changes to E&M coding, physician documentation and information security during the organization’s Miami event. HIM’s expanding role in healthcare analytics was also recognized. Half of AHIMA’s “hot topics” presentations covered data collection, analytics, sharing, structure and governance.

October 15, 2018

CODING GETS AN AUTOMATED ASSIST

Health Data Management (see comments from KIWI-TEK on page 22)
Sarah Humbert, coding and compliance manager at KIWI-TEK, says she has continued to see the trend among hospital and facility clients to implement total EMR/billing systems, rather than multiple or separate systems.

September 2018
By Diana Manos

HOW FEDERAL FRAUD AND ABUSE LAWS ARE CHANGING

Health Data Management
The False Claims Act has the potential to trip up healthcare medical coders, even if a false claim goes undetected. The act imposes liability and possibly litigation on persons or companies that defraud the federal government. In the eyes of the government, it doesn’t matter if a false claim inadvertently gets through. “You don’t need intent to get in trouble,” says Catrena Smith, coding manager at KIWI-TEK, a medical coding firm in Indianapolis. “You could still be held liable.”

September 2018
By Joseph Goedert

STAYING CONNECTED WITH REMOTE STAFF

NAHRI Journal (see comments from KIWI-TEK on page 18)
Remote work is becoming the norm in many industries, and healthcare isn’t immune to the trend. Whether staff are remote full-time or have the option to work remotely on occasion, it’s transforming the way people think about work, from the physical space of an office to forging a team and building organizational loyalty.

July 2018
By Bill Wagner, CHPS, and Sarah Humbert, RHIA, ICD-10 AHIMA Certified Trainer, Coding and Compliance Manager

OFFSHORE CODING COSTS MORE IN THE LONG-RUN

HFMA Magazine
Offshore coder productivity was 34 percent lower per hour than domestic coders, according to a recent study. Healthcare organizations needed 51 percent more offshore coders, raising the effective hourly rate of offshore coders to $52.85 per hour, versus $60 for domestic coders.

June 2018
BY BILL WAGNER, CHPS, and Sarah Humbert, RHIA, ICD-10 AHIMA Certified Trainer, Coding and Compliance Manager

OFFSHORE VERSUS DOMESTIC OUTSOURCED CODING SERVICES: A COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT

HFMA Magazine
Outsourcing medical record coding services overseas is often seen as an effective cost-control measure by U.S. healthcare organizations, but the recent experience of six organizations with this approach suggest this might not be the case.

June 2018
BY BILL WAGNER, CHPS, and Sarah Humbert, RHIA, ICD-10 AHIMA Certified Trainer, Coding and Compliance Manager

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT CODING AUDIT METHOD

Journal of AHIMA
March 2018
By Sarah Humbert, RHIA, ICD-10 AHIMA Certified Trainer, Coding and Compliance Manager

HEALTHCARE HAS UNDERGONE several major upheavals in the past five years. Many organizations adopted new electronic health record (EHR) technology while navigating the implementation of ICD-10-CM/PCS. In the years since the adoption of ICD-10, organizations have steadily navigated new systems and processes.

Reprinted with permission from the American Health Information Management Association. Copyright © 2018 by the American Health Information Management Association. All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced, reprinted, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the association.

CODING ACCURACY: STUDY REVEALS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DOMESTIC AND OFFSHORE CODING

HIM Scene
In January 2015 the ICD-10-preparation frenzy was at its peak. Healthcare provider organizations were scrambling to find coding support during the implementation and transition phases of the quickly approaching ICD-10 implementation deadline. KIWI-TEK was one of those outsourced coding companies being asked to supply experienced, qualified coders.

March 2018
By Bill Wagner, CHPS

HOW TO AVOID CODING ISSUES DURING EHR IMPLEMENTATIONS

Revenue Cycle Advisor
As healthcare organizations navigate an increasingly complex regulatory environment, leaders at various levels—particularly HIM, release of information (ROI), compliance, finance, health information technology (HIT), privacy, and security—face unprecedented challenges.

February 2018
By Carlene Laxson, Coding Manager

BEST PRACTICES IN CODING AUDITS

For The Record
In an effort to ensure coding accuracy and regulatory compliance, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) recommend that health care providers routinely enlist independent parties to audit coding practices. Many health care organizations welcome these audits as a way to obtain feedback regarding their coding programs, in large measure to improve quality.

January 2018
By Susan Chapman

HOW TO BALANCE PRIVACY, SECURITY AND QUALITY WITH OFFSHORE CODING: THREE CRITICAL CAVEATS FOR HIM

HIM SCENE
In a recent blog post to HIM Scene, KIWI-TEK’s Sarah Humbert, RHIA, ICD-10 AHIMA Certified Trainer, Coding and Compliance Manager, discusses three critical caveats to HIM when it comes to offshore coding.

October 4, 2017
By Sarah Humbert, RHIA, ICD-10 AHIMA Certified Trainer, Coding and Compliance Manager