Convention is now over and life is slowly
getting back to normal. I always have a great time when I attend
convention, but I am exhausted when I return. There is so much to see and
do.
Your Missouri delegates represented you well
in the House of Delegates on October 7th. The resolution for
further study into the Vision 2016 Blueprint was passed and now the AHIMA
Board will be investigating the best methods to begin the process of
identifying the future of HIM education. Our job is not over. MHIMA has
formed a taskforce that will be offering suggestions to the AHIMA Board as
to our thoughts and concerns with this paper. Education must change for our
profession to grow, but it does not mean that what is in the Vision 2016
paper is how it will look. We must not be silent as to what we envision
this path to look like.
As always, please feel free to contact me.
Enjoy your day,
Julie Wolter, MA, RHIA
President, MHIMA
The eHealth Initiative released a
multi-stakeholder consensus document promoting “a set of principles,
strategies and actions for improving health and healthcare through
information and information technology.”
The eHealth Initiative Blueprint: Building Consensus for Common Action
was developed collaboratively by almost 200 diverse healthcare
organizations. Participating groups included clinicians, consumers,
employers and healthcare purchasers, healthcare IT suppliers, health plans,
hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies, public health agencies, and state and
regional leaders
The final document catalogs many of the
activities that are currently taking place and provides consensus-based
guiding principles, and concrete strategies and actions that can be taken,
along with a proposed timeline for their implementation.
Learn
more.
Microsoft Corp. recently launched a website
for managing personal health and medical information, but privacy advocates
worry that neither the technology nor US law will protect patients' most
confidential details.
Read more.
If you want to keep current with personal
health records (PHR) and what is happening in the industry, then contact
Marsha Dolan at
dolan@missouriwestern.edu and she will add you to our PHR email group.
This group receives periodic emails with links to current articles and
things of interest surrounding the PHR.
 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 or for questions - Marsha (dolan@missouriwestern.edu)
or Julie (wolterjl@slu.edu)
If you would like more information on this
topic check out:
www.myPHR.com.
 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
The resolution to begin research into the
potential models as to how education will have to change to meet the market
demand in 2016 was passed by the House of Delegates in Philadelphia last
week. MHIMA has formed a task force that will keep current with this topic
and offer the AHIMA Board suggestions and recommendations as this process
proceeds. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Julie
Wolter at
president@mhima.org.
To read the report,
click here.
 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. To check out the full list of AHIMA resources,
click here.
 AHIMA
announced it will provide ICD-10 implementation assessment and training
consultation services for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
following AHIMA’s signing of a contract with the nation’s healthcare
policy-making agency.
Specifically, the contract requires AHIMA to
determine ICD-10’s impact(s) on CMS; develop ICD-10 integrated project and
implementation plans for CMS; conduct training needs assessment and provide
CMS with coding expertise and assistance.
“AHIMA is proud to serve CMS through the
provisions of this contract. We were awarded the contract based on CMS’
determination that AHIMA is the most qualified organization capable of
satisfying the criteria for a successful execution,” said Linda Kloss, AHIMA
chief executive officer. The contract calls for an initial year and four
option years.
Supporting Kloss’ assertion are the more
than six decades of AHIMA experience in the use and development of
classification for diseases. Moreover, AHIMA served as one of a handful of
cooperating parties that determined the guidelines for the use of ICD-9-CM,
the current US classification mechanism that many in healthcare, including
AHIMA, believe has long outlived its usefulness.
There are three subcontractors working with
AHIMA on this project, each responsible for a separate element of the
classification process. Symphony Corp. will provide data collection team
leaders and IT consultants, while Vangent Inc. will handle business process
analysts and data monitoring. The RAND Corp. will be responsible for cost
estimates.
Those
in search of careers in health information management (HIM) are just a few
mouse clicks away from the road to gainful employment. On June 18, AHIMA
launched www.healthinformationcareers.com,
a new site that is part of AHIMA's national recruitment campaign to attract
and increase student enrollment within accredited HIM college degree
programs.
As the first website of its kind,
www.healthinformationcareers.com is a one-stop destination for
those interested in pursuing careers in health information management (HIM),
one of the fastest growing healthcare fields that uses information
technology to manage patient records and data at hospitals, physician
offices, clinics and other health facilities. Aimed at sparking the interest
of high school students and drawing them into the field, the site gives
visitors an industry background, academic and career planning resources,
steps towards receiving Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA)
certification, and financing an undergraduate degree.
“Workforce development is on the forefront
of AHIMA's agenda in bringing more qualified and trained people to the
field. The launch of this new site is pivotal in recruiting talent and we
are excited to see the website to go public and become an invaluable
resource for those in pursuit of degrees in HIM, or who are considering a
career change,” said AHIMA CEO Linda Kloss, MA, RHIA.
With sharp, clean graphics, the site is easy
to navigate, features testimonials from recent college graduates and working
professionals, sample curricula and answers questions that help prospective
students make informed decisions.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, health information technology and technology management will be
among the fastest growing occupations in the U.S. through 2012 and the shift
from paper to electronic health records systems (EHRs) has fueled an even
greater demand for the profession. Starting salaries in the field range from
$30,000 to $50,000. After five years of experience, many HIM professionals
earn as much as $75,000.
The 2006 Legal Manual for Management of Health Information
in Missouri is available for purchase.
Learn more.
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