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The final rule related to recovery audit contractors (RACs) for Medicaid was released in mid-September (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-09-16/pdf/2011-23695.pdf), just over three months before it goes into effect. It provides a variety of guidance and opt-outs for states that have many compliance experts scratching their heads.
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Being accredited by The Joint Commission makes a difference in outcomes for patients with certain diagnoses, according to a study in the October issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine.
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They come from 45 states, represent 14% of Joint Commission-accredited hospitals, and are the first class of hospitals to be recognized as top performers in the commission's annual report.
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The National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) honored several people in September for their efforts to improve quality and safety in healthcare.
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Patients at the Women's Hospital of Greensboro (NC) might have multiple visits during their pregnancies, which allows registrars to create an ongoing relationship, says Donald B. Conrad, patient access supervisor.
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Anna Dapelo-Garcia, administrative director of patient access services at Stanford (CA) Hospitals and Clinics, anticipates point-of-service (POS) collections will increase by more than $1 million in 2012.
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Members of the patient access staff at West Virginia University Hospitals East collected 110% more in 2010 than the previous year and are hoping to increase that by an additional 10% for 2011, reports Audrey Hodson, system director for patient access services.
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E-mail practices and mobile e-mail cause the most concern for data protection and regulatory compliance, according to the 830 individuals whose responses were included in a study conducted by the Ponemon Institute and Zix Corp., an e-mail encryption service.
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During morning surgery rush times, registrars at Indiana University Health North Hospital in Carmel began monitoring the actual time patients were arriving in a database.
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More than 57,000 complaints of Privacy Rule violations were received by the Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) between April 2003 and December 2010. More than 250 large data breaches, defined as those involving the protected health information of more than 500 individuals, occurred in 2009 and 2010.
