  |
||
|
||
|
|
||
|
In This Issue:  From the WHIMA President Fall Conference Keynote eHealth Summit in Wisconsin Recovery Audit Program Legal Resource Manual Update New Credential in Data Analytics New Grad FocusPresident's Message
Greetings to All! I hope you are doing well, and taking some quality time to spend with friends and family. Having balance in your life is important, and summers are way too short in Wisconsin to put off your plans!! I officially transitioned into role of WHIMA President as of 7/1/08, succeeding Jennifer Laughlin. I would like to thank Jennifer for her leadership this past year. She has helped position WHIMA to move forward by being one of the first states to re-tool our Strategic Plan into the new model from AHIMA, and brought together a branding team to develop a WHIMA booth that can be taken to other association and business meetings to promote HIM, leading to an increased awareness of our expertise and enrollment in our educational programs to meet future demands of HIM professionals. WHIMA and AHIMA have both been very busy. We held the WHIMA Strategic Plan update session 7/11/08 in Wisconsin Dells. Approximately 25 WHIMA members and business partners came together in a “World Café” forum, with several more e-mailing their input, to share their thoughts on some pertinent issues facing HIM professionals in Wisconsin. A summary of that meeting will be sent to the attendees, and they will rank the 3 most critical issues for us to act on. It was a great group, and a great day!! Not only did we talk about what the issues meant to us, we also generated ideas for how to address them moving forward. Once the results are in, we will share them with you all. As a side-note, I would like to publicly thank all of the participants – you made my first “official duty” as President very fulfilling! The AHIMA Summer Team Talks and Leadership Conference were held July 18-20, 2008, in Chicago. Wisconsin attendees included myself, Sandy Stevens-Berens (President-elect), Chrisann Lemery (Policy & Legislative Team), and Lynn Kuehn was also there as an AHIMA Director. Summer Team Talks focus on AHIMA strategy and operations updates, House of Delegates updates, and industry/practice issues discussions. The Team Talks last for one day, and are pretty intense. Overall, AHIMA is a strong organization making great strides in the healthcare industry. We continue to gain acceptance and recognition, and are strong financially. Many of our active initiatives come out of the House of Delegates (HOD) forum at the annual AHIMA meeting, held each year in October. Teams are formed around these initiatives, and action plans developed to move them forward. You need to be aware of the changes and resolutions to be considered at the annual national meetings; they can affect your career and future of HIM! In summary, these topics may come to the House of Delegates (HOD) in Seattle this October. Read on for information about the topics for the 2008 House of Delegates in Seattle in October. Let the WHIMA delegates hear from you about these topics and your concerns... Internationally Acclaimed Keynote Speaker and Author to Open the Fall Conference
They welcome you to join them at a conference that will be packed full of fun and learning opportunities that focus on “Juggling for Peak Performance!” The tracks of “Taming the Lions” and “Balancing Act” offer sessions that will provide the tools of the trade to meet the challenges on systems thinking, staffing, clinical documentation, recovery audit contracts, hard wiring, coding and compliance to name a few. The HIM professional is guaranteed to come away with skills to lead change as well as maintain “peak performance” in their departments. From the opening session to the closing session of “Why Women Have Balls: Juggling Lessons for Life” the conference will be filled with topics to assist you and your HIM Department in “Juggling for Peak Performance”. Make your plans today!! Join us at Glacier Canyon, in beautiful WI Dells to network with colleagues and recharge your battery along with your professional life. You will be ready to return to work with new ideas. Don't wait to register. Early bird fees expire on August 29, 2008. Hotel special rates expire on August 18, 2008. For a sneak peak of the program click here Sneak Preview 2008 Fall Conference Program For information about the Glacier Canyon or a copy of the conference program click here 2008 Fall Conference Program See you at the conference!! Malinda Mielke, BS, RHIT, Fall Conference Team Leader eHealth Implementation Summit Governor Doyle created the eHealth Care Quality and Patient
Kevin Hutchinson, Commissioner of the American Health Information Community (AHIC), spoke on building momentum for E-Prescribing. Benefits flow to the providers, pharmacies, payers and most significantly the patient; however, currently only 2% of prescriptions are e-prescribed. The highest prescribers are concentrated in the smallest practices where the IT infrastructure is lacking. Payers are accelerating the use of e-prescribing by incentivizing primary care providers to adopt the electronic patient record with the medication list as a key component in that mission. Please see his PowerPoint presentation by clicking on Building Momentum for E-Prescription J. Marc Overhage, President and CEO of the Indiana Health Information Exchange, discussed the benefits realized as well as challenges faced by this RHIO. At the breakout sessions, Catherine Hansen, RHIA, WHIMA past president and chairperson of the Consumer Interests Workgroup, cited the state law changes in Statutes 51.30 and 146.82 as significant milestones of this past year. The revision in 51.30 allows disclosure of eleven key data elements to all treating providers with a need to know without informed consent. This eases the barriers in treatment between healthcare organizations and providers. Statute 146.82 relaxes the language and documentation surrounding redisclosure and disclosure to individual/s involved in the care and treatment of the patient. Both of these changes bring our state law into closer alignment with HIPAA. One of the next steps will be to evaluate the differences in state statutes nationwide with the ultimate goal being to improve the flow of information in care delivery when patient care crosses state boundaries. The presentation is available by clicking Privacy and Consent Presentations from the Forum including each of the breakout sessions are available at eHealth Summit Presentations. Are You Ready for RACs? The present HIM radar screen is buzzing about Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs). RACs were tasked by CMS to preserve Medicare fiscal integrity and watch-dog Medicare Fee-For-Service fraud/abuse issues. The pilot program entailed three states and ended in March 2008. Since inception, RACs have expanded to six states (CA, FL, NY, SC, AZ and MA) to identify a total of over a billion dollars ($992 overpayments and $37 underpayments) of Medicare improper payments from 2005-2008. Acting CMS Administrator Kerry Weems indicated “because of the success of the recovery audit contractor pilot, Congress has made the program permanent and required its expansion throughout the country”. Even though Medicare already employs other safeguards to address Medicare Fee-For-Service compliance, the RACs will be conducting automated reviews (utilizing only claims data) and complex reviews (utilizing claims and medical records) to ascertain compliance with Medicare reporting and coding guidelines. RACs are paid on a contingency basis; therefore, there is a tremendous financial incentive for them to identify overpayments. Those states that have had RAC reviews have encouraged Providers to appoint a RAC contact person at your facility to ensure records/claim requests are copied/released within proper time constraints, to follow the status of requested records/claims, and to respond to and/or appeal RAC decisions. This function may entail dogmatic energy, but is a necessary function to maintain provider fiscal integrity. The National RAC Expansion Schedule indicates CMS will announce the 4 region RAC assignments in spring 2008. Whereas the time schedule is not presently on schedule, the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 mandates RACs function as an operating permanent program in all states by January 1, 2010. CMS RAC web site offers the Demonstration Reports, Status Documents, National Expansion Schedule, RAC FAQs, and an opportunity to receive CMS RAC related emails. CMS RAC You can also read the press releases from CMS on RAC by going to CMS RAC Press Releases To assist Wisconsin hospitals with the RAC process, WHA has taken a proactive approach and has developed a RAC Taskforce. This task force has been meeting since April 2008, and since then has developed a WHA RAC page on their site which offers practical information and tools. First, a RAC Tool Kit and a White Paper have been developed to provide valuable insight on how hospitals can prepare for RAC reviews. Next, the WHA RAC Task Force also plans to facilitate and promote training and education opportunities to WI Providers, establish and maintain a database of RAC liaisons at each WI hospital, initiate a listserve tool so hospitals can share experiences, and pursue advocacy strategies aimed at mitigating harmful impacts of ongoing RAC activity. In addition, a RAC seminar is scheduled for August 6th, so you will want to bookmark this URL to follow WHA’s RAC opportunities to ensure you are ready for RACs. Workforce Shortages: Is a New Credential the Solution?
The growing role and scope of EHR implementations has exploded the demand for grooming the data collected in clinical settings. Please view the power point presentation from the eHealth Care Summit Meeting to see the role of data analysis in linking public health and clinical care. Linking Public Health & Clinical Care There is no area of healthcare that escapes the scrutiny of data analysis so this credential is seen as gaining prevalence and stature over the next five to seven years. To read the Council on Certification's discussion document on proposed new credential click here. Data Analysis Credential. New Grad Focus: Heather Anderson Welcome to another edition of the “New Graduate Focus”. I am pleased to introduce Heather Anderson. Heather is a May 2008 graduate from Gateway Technical College in Racine, Wisconsin. She earned an Associate Degree in Health Information Technology. Heather is planning to take her RHIT exam within the next few months. Before Heather graduated from the HIT program, she worked in the food industry for a few years. While in school, Heather worked as a Health Information Completion Clerk at a psychiatric hospital. She enjoyed her first HIM job and truly learned how a medical records department operates. Before she graduated from the HIT program, Heather was promoted to a Coder I position within the same organization. Heather is enjoying her new position immensely. Heather may pursue her CCS certification in the future after she has more coding experience under her belt. Before Heather started college, she was not exactly sure what she wanted to do for a career. She knew she had to go to college but was not sure on what area of study to focus on. Her mother helped her make that decision. Her mother researched the Health Information Technology program and thought it would be an ideal fit for Heather. Heather read up on the career and decided to pursue a degree in HIT. In the beginning of her program, she was not sure which area of HIM she wanted to pursue for a career. After taking a few courses, which included general science courses and her first coding class, Heather realized she had a knack for coding and statistics. Furthering her knowledge through coding classes, she discovered that coding is what she really wanted to do once she graduated. She enjoys learning new things each day at her current coding position. She currently codes outpatient, urgent care and ER patients. She likes to abstract data and looks forward to learning all the ins and outs that a coding career has to offer. Heather has offered some useful advice for other students who may be interested in the coding field. She says it is very important to practice coding, to study and be patient. It can be a little frustrating at first, but after awhile everything starts to click and coding becomes second nature. Heather feels that she has found a career that she will always be interested in and she enjoys the challenges she faces every day in her coding position. Thank you Heather and welcome to the WHIMA community! This e-mail was sent to you by www.whima.org. WHIMA respects its members' Internet privacy. Update your Membership Profile or E-mail Address. If you prefer not to receive informational e-mails regarding WHIMA and the Link newsletter, send an e-mail with the subject line Remove to Sandy Bissen and include your full name and member ID number (if applicable) in the text. Please allow a few days for processing of your request. |
Attend the 2008 Fall Conference at the Glacier Canyon Lodge in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin on September 11 & 12. Early bird registration fees expire on August 29th. For a registration form online go to 2008 Fall Conference Registration Form
Cathy Hansen is a past WHIMA President and has served on many committess and workgroups. Most recently she was appointed to the e-Health Quality and Patient Safety Board. Through Cathy's hard work and the work of other key WHIMA professionals she has involved, the e-Health project participants are now critically aware of the challenges that will be faced as further steps to implement the e-Health plan are undertaken. Cathy has ensured that health leaders in WI thoroughly understand the implications of current WI legislation that may challenge e-Health implementation. Please give your congratulations to the winner of WHIMA's highest honor! Way to go Cathy. For a complete article on the award recognition during the volunteer luncheon in Elkhart Lake just go to 2008 Leadership Awards and Recognition.
Amy Janssen was nominated for the Educator Award by her students at NWTC. Janssen's students noted that she is "good at explaining things at a level a student can understand" and "she explains how she got to the answer so you understand the logic". Amy goes the extra mile, gives real life examples and provides encouragement. Amy has made a difference in the lives of many of her students. Congratulations and thank you for going above and beyond for the students and WHIMA! To read the complete award citation go to 2008 Leadership Awards and Recognition.
Malinda Mielke has been involved in WHIMA from the moment she started down the path toward becoming an RHIT. As a student, she participatd on teams. At the present time, Mielke is leading the 2008 Fall Conference Team. She stepped into the role of interim health information supervisor during her manager's surgical leave. Malinda possesses the professional interest and poise and for that reason she was selected to receive the 2008 Rising Star Award. Congratulations, Malinda! To read the complete award citation go to 2008 Leadership Awards and Recognition.
Peg Schmidt has been an active member of WHIMA, serving as President, Director, and as a member/team leader on any number of committees. In her role as a Community Education Coordinator for the myPHR campaign for AHIMA, she is promoting the personal health record to members of WHIMA as well as the general public. She has helped train "MyPHR" presenters throughout the state and has given presentations to the public in order to advance this national initiative. She has motivated and encouraged others to volunteer and get involved in WHIMA activities. With her experience, understanding of the healthcare industry and contributions to our profession, she is most deserving of being recognized as a Motivator by WHIMA. Congratulations Peg! To read the complete award citation go to 2008 Leadership Awards and Recognition. In January, AHIMA launched the campaign, "It's HI Time America!" to educate and increase the public's awareness of the importance of personal health records (PHRs). The PHR website is a user friendly website that offers consumers a step-by-step guide for creating a PHR. Cathy Hansen, Peg Schmidt, and Chrisann Lemery are WHIMA's coordinators for the PHR awareness campaign in Wisconsin. They are seeking opportunities to present at regional association meetings, community centers and organizations, colleges and other public forums. You, too, as a Health Information professional have the opportunity to audition for new roles--as agents, producers, directors and stars. Learn more about the PHR initiative, "It's HI Time America!" by visiting the website at It's HI Time America--my PHR
|
