Editor's note: The following scenario is provided by Laurie A. Rinehart-Thompson, JD, RHIA, CHP, assistant professor of clinical allied medicine in the School of Allied Medical Professions at Ohio State University in Columbus. Present the scenario portion to your HIM staff to see how they would handle the issue.
Over the last six months, The Joint Commission's survey have continued to show a pattern in regard to findings related to the Record of Care and Treatment chapter of the Joint Commission accreditation manual. The challenging standards are outlined below, including tips for compliance.
It's September-time to hit the books again and get back to school. If you're an aspiring HIM professional, that means learning about medical record retention.
Summers can be wonderful, it's true. But they can also be a glowing reminder of what you don't have in your HIM department: a bountiful staff and endless resources.
If HIM professionals needed another reason to be concerned with protected health information (PHI) outside of paper records, a surgery center in Arizona provided one in April.
The question today for healthcare facilities isn't, "Does your facility use social media?" It's more like, "Who is using social media, for what purpose, and what are your hospital's policies and procedures around it?" It's good to have a strong social media policy and procedure in place for your organization, says Phyllis A. Patrick, MBA, FACHE, CHC, president of Phyllis A. Patrick & Associates, LLC, in Purchase, N.Y. She developed this accompanying checklist for those looking to beef up their policies on social media use in the hospital setting.
A presumption is a belief or hypothesis about something. An assumption is taking a piece of information (as in knowledge about a topic) as a given fact. When you put them together, a presumptive assumption is troublesome because you can assume in error.
