A coalition that includes the American Medical Association (AMA), American Hospital Association, and 15 other healthcare organizations is calling for an industry-wide reassessment of prior authorization programs.
Privacy and security are challenging enough within the walls of a hospital or business office. But as the number of remote staff increases, privacy and security officers must be prepared to pioneer a new environment of remote home offices and mobile devices.
The March 8 Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice implementation deadline is quickly approaching, which means organizations must act now to ensure that their staff members are ready accurately and completely to fill out and deliver the form. There were some changes from the proposed version of the form CMS first released to the final version it ultimately approved December 7, 2016.
Inpatient coding departments are likely familiar with integrating clinical documentation improvement (CDI) specialists into their processes. Crystal Stalter, CPC, CCS-P, CDIP, looks at how CDI techniques can benefit outpatient settings and what services and codes facilities should target.
