This is a very busy time of year. It is my
favorite time to redo at home. (My husband is not so fond of this time.)
We are busy painting rooms, moving furniture and preparing the house for the
holidays. MHIMA is doing the same thing. We are busy with many projects
that we hope will benefit our members and students. I am very excited about
what the Directors are developing. Watch this newsletter for details in the
next few months.
The House of Delegates (HOD) is scheduled
for Sunday, October 7th in Philadelphia. Your delegates are
prepared and ready to represent the membership. Watch your email early next
week for a summary of the HOD votes. And, always feel free at anytime to
contact your delegates. We would love to hear from you.
Enjoy your day,
Julie Wolter, MA, RHIA
President, MHIMA
 Have you heard of a
Personal Health Record (PHR)? Do you know why everyone should have one?
Most people see more than one healthcare provider. Some people see a family
practitioner, a dentist, and perhaps a specialist such as an allergist,
while in some cases, a patient may also see an oncologist and, if necessary,
a surgeon. As we know, each of these care providers compiles a separate
medical record on the patient and, in many instances, may not know that
their patient is receiving care from other providers.
These multiple medical records often lead to
an incomplete story – they are chapters of the same book but in different
locations. This means that the patient is the most effective source of
their own complete medical history. And by managing their own health
information they can help improve the quality of care they receive.
The Missouri Health Information Management
Association is providing a free public education program entitled, “Your
Personal Health Information: How to Access, Manage and Protect It.” The
goal of the program is to provide consumers with the information they need
to better manage their personal health information and to teach them how to
maintain a PHR. This knowledge can empower them to become a partner in
their own healthcare.
Marsha Dolan and Julie Wolter are the
Community Education Coordinators for MHIMA and they would like to get this
important program out to consumers. We are all consumers of healthcare, so
this would be a great presentation for your staff. As HIM professionals we
need to know about this concept as a consumer, but also as PHR advocates.
Who better to let everyone know about their own personal healthcare
documentation? If you are interested in having this 30 minute presentation
presented to your staff please let either Marsha or Julie know. They would
be happy to coordinate this effort with the trained presenters in the area.
This might be something you could work into your HI & T week celebration.
(November 5- 9, 2007). Contact them to schedule a presentation at
schedule a presesentation or for questions email
Marsha or
Julie.
If you would like more information on this
topic check out:
www.myPHR.com.
AHIMA CEO Linda Kloss, RHIA, FAHIMA, CAE,
testified on Wednesday, September 26th, before the House Science
and Technology Committee on meeting the need for interoperability and
information security in healthcare IT. AHIMA's testimony addressed four
questions posed by the committee:
-
What are the potential benefits for the
US healthcare system from a national health IT system that is secure and
interoperable? What will be the costs of delaying its adoption?
-
What role do technical standards and
guidelines play in enabling national interoperability in health IT? Are
there other barriers to interoperability as well?
-
What is the best strategy for ensuring
information security and privacy in a national health IT system?
-
What are the potential benefits in
global harmonization of health IT standards? How can a national US
health IT system be made globally interoperable?
The committee chairman, Rep. Bart Gordon
(D-TN) has introduced HR 2406 to authorize the National Institute of
Standards and Technology to increase its efforts in support of the
integration of the healthcare information enterprise in the United States.
Read AHIMA's testimony.
 AHIMA's Education
Strategy Committee has released a white paper, “Vision 2016: Blueprint for
Quality Education in Health Information Management,” which explores the
state of HIM education today, outlines the benefits, opportunities, and
challenges, and suggests how three key priorities might be achieved by 2016.
Previous versions of this report have been posted to some Communities of
Practice; the final version has been edited for readability and includes an
appendix of comments from educators who reviewed an earlier draft during the
2007 Assembly on Education Summer Symposium.
The three key priorities of the blueprint
are:
-
Transformation of health information
management to a graduate-level profession by 2016
-
Realign the health information
management associate degree with work force needs by 2016
-
Prepare an effective, qualified pool of
health information management faculty by 2016
A resolution that AHIMA begin inquiry into
suggested actions for the key priorities has been proposed for the House of
Delegates meeting this month in Philadelphia.
Read the report
Proposed Resolution on Diversity
The vote on the Proposed Resolution on Diversity was approved.
The vote required a majority of the House to pass. The majority was
108 of the 214 votes cast.
1. Number of CSAs with delegates
participating in the vote: 52 out of
52.
The AHIMA's bylaws require delegate
representation from at least one third of the CSAs for a valid
election. Therefore, the quorum requirements were met.
2. Delegate vote on the Proposed
Diversity Resolution:
Affirmative for approval
169 79.0%
Negative to defeat
45 21.0%
Total votes cast
214 100%
Abstentions
11
Proposed PHR Resolution
The vote on the Proposed PHR Resolution was approved. The
vote required a majority of the House to pass. The majority was 108
of the 217 votes cast.
1. Number of CSAs with delegates
participating in the vote: 52 out of
52.
The AHIMA's bylaws require delegate
representation from at least one third of the CSAs for a valid
election. Therefore, the quorum requirements were met.
2. Delegate vote on the Proposed PHR
Resolution:
Affirmative for approval 197
90.78%
Negative to defeat
20 9.22%
Total votes cast
217 100%
Abstentions
8
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) final rule for the
Medicare inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) will become effective
Monday, October 1, despite recent legislative action in Congress.
The
CMS IPPS final notice (72FR47130) for FY 2008 was issued formally on
August 22. Included in the changes for FY2008 for Medicare was the
introduction and implementation of the new severity adjusted MS-DRG system.
Concerns regarding a reversal of this final
notice first arose in July, when the US House of Representatives passed the
Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007 (HR 3162 - CHAMP),
which in part called for a delay in MS-DRG implementation. Recent compromise
between the House CHAMP legislation and the Senate SCHIP bill removed all
Medicare changes approved by the House. Therefore, no current legislation
under discussion provides for any MS-DRG implementation freeze.
On September 26, the House passed new
legislation, the TMA, Abstinence Education, and QI Programs Extension Act of
2007 (HR 3668). Included in this bill is a limitation on the amount of
“behavioral adjustment” CMS can discount with regard to the implementation
of MS-DRGs. HR 3668 has not moved to the US Senate for consideration and
does not stop implementation of MS-DRGs. Should HR 3668 become law, the only
change impacts reimbursement formulas, not the MS-DRG system.
Consultation with CMS indicates no changes
in the scheduled implementation of MS-DRGs and other changes associated with
the FY 2008 Medicare IPPS rule. Providers will be expected to bill claims
under the new requirement as of October 1.
The new MS-DRG system consists of 745 new
DRGs that will replace the current 538 CMS DRGs in both short-term and
long-term acute care settings. In addition, short-term acute care hospitals
will also be required to begin reporting the present on admission code on
inpatient claims with discharges beginning October 1. To help you prepare
for these changes, AHIMA has compiled an online list with links to timely
resources and articles. Check
out the full list of AHIMA resources.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced a
contract to the American Health Information Management Association
(AHIMA) to begin assessing the impact on CMS of replacing the ICD-9
code sets now used in reporting health care transactions with the
ICD-10 versions.
The AHIMA will analyze CMS' systems, policies and operations to
determine potential impacts of transitioning from the ICD-9 to the
ICD-10, including the ICD-10's ability to support more accurate
payment for new procedures, efficient claims processing, and improved
disease management.
All health care providers and suppliers use ICD-9 diagnosis codes,
while ICD-9 procedure codes are used only by hospitals to report
inpatient procedures. ICD-9codes are used for many purposes,
including reimbursement, quality reporting, pay for performance,
benchmarking, health care policy, public health reporting and
research.
Read
more about CMS replacing the ICD codes sets click on
the CMS Press Release.
 November 4 through
10 is Health Information and Technology (HI&T) Week. This annual event
recognizes the work of health information management (HIM) professionals who
maintain and protect the health information of consumers from coast to
coast. HI&T Week has been sponsored by AHIMA since 1989. As in past years,
we are partnering with the Canadian Health Information Management
Association (CHIMA) to provide even greater outreach across North America.
We’d like to remind you to participate in a
special week that celebrates our profession and educates people about its
importance. The theme of this year’s celebration is "Accuracy You Can Count
On, Information You Can Trust," and we have prepared a kit to help you plan
your week. To access the planning kit online, visit
www.ahima.org/hitweek.
Official HI&T Week merchandise is only
available through Bells Select, and a portion of the proceeds from the sale
of official merchandise goes to support the event. To order official
merchandise, visit
www.imprintmall.com/ahima. Order by October 3 for guaranteed arrival of
merchandise by Health Information and Technology Week.
Start planning today.
|
