Coders Telephone Seminars

Effective Auditing of Physicians' Documentation BenefitsThe federal government's increasing interest in fraud, waste and abuse heightens the awareness of physician practices, both large and small, of the increasing scrutiny of physician documentation to support billings. In the past, audits are performed and physicians were lectured but all too often little improvement was noted. How can practices efficiently and effectively audit physician  more...

Fraud Enforcement Trends in the Health Care Industry BenefitsNew funding, new tools, and a heightened focus on the health care industry by civil and criminal law enforcement authorities means that investigations are not what they used to be. Learn more about what areas enforcement authorities are focusing on, where the big and small cases are being brought, how to deal with law enforcement's new tools, and how best to prepare yourself and your  more...

Powers of Attorney: Medical Records Release Concerns BenefitsBusy medical practices understand that each day personal health information is transmitted in various forms between hospitals, doctors, attorneys, insurance companies, patients and their lawyers and families. With increasing reliance on electronic medical records health information can be transmitted with minimal effort. However, health information requests become more confusing and less  more...

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Records: What Can You Release? BenefitsDo you know that medical record custodians may be violating a patient's privacy protections without even knowing it in responding to requests for a patient's health information that contain substance abuse and mental health information? Do you know that you may need to withhold mental health and substance abuse records, even in responding to a records subpoena? Learn more about these  more...

Best Practices to Modify Electronic Health Records While Maintaining Record Integrity BenefitsMoving to an electronic health record system can make it possible to work more efficiently and effectively by automating certain tasks and making information easier to locate. But sometimes, even electronic records must be modified by adding, amending, correcting or deleting information. In some ways, paper records were easier to deal with, as incorrectly filed documents could simply be  more...

Discharge Codes: Impact on the Post-Acute Care Transfer Policy - Risks and Rewards BenefitsImproper understanding and application of discharge codes may result in reduced hospital reimbursement and represent a compliance risk under the PACT policy. William E. Haik, M.D. has been involved in ICD-9-CM coding and chart documentation for more than 25 years and will explain why the problem exists and how to remedy it. This live audio conference is designed for medical records  more...

Determining Meaningful Use for Electronic Health Records BenefitsIn order to receive incentive payments from the federal government, physicians and hospitals must achieve 'meaningful use' of electronic health records through an attestation process. This process is new and complicated. This live audio conference will outline meaningful use guidelines and requirements to receive incentive payments, including timelines, criteria, an outline of the  more...

Legal Issues Surrounding the Utilization and Maintenance of Computerized Medical Records BenefitsWith the federal government's prioritization of health information technology and evidence that electronic health record systems can reduce medical errors and lead to more efficient delivery of care, many hospitals and providers are beginning to implement EHRs in their facilities and practices. Despite federal regulations that permit certain donations of EHR technology, the implementation  more...

Preparing for Medicaid Audits BenefitsThe current and future state of Medicaid audits - are you and your clients adequately prepared? The Medicaid program is a state's most significant health care expense and, in many instances, one of its largest budgetary items. It is the health insurer of last resort for children and the economically disadvantaged. The recent economic downturn has caused shortfalls to many states' overall  more...

Medical Records: Responding to Subpoenas and Investigations BenefitsDon't be caught off guard. You could be breaching the confidentiality of patients without even realizing it! From HIPAA requirements to state privacy laws, legal issues abound in the medical records arena. If you're not up to date on medical records law, your company could face serious legal and financial liability risks. Attend this audio conference and gain critical information on  more...

Risk Management in the Retention and Destruction of Medical Records BenefitsThere are many different types of medical records. The retention and destruction of each is governed by various state and federal laws and regulations. Additionally, when evaluating the storage and destruction of medical records, other factors such as reimbursement and billing, accreditation and professional standards must be considered. This audio conference will help you understand  more...

Principal Diagnosis Selection: Ensure Compliance with Official Coding Guidelines BenefitsIn today's current health care business economic climate, there exists a renewed focus upon third-party payer initiatives to second guess and undermine medical record coder's selection of principal diagnosis selection under the guise of medical necessity and accurate and compliant coding. Under the RAC Demonstration Project, a pattern of supposed coding errors and medical necessity errors  more...

Medical Records 101: Responding to Requests for Patient Information BenefitsRegister for this teleconference and get an overview of medical management issues faced by health care providers in responding to requests for patient information for litigation purposes. The conference speaker, who has extensive experience in civil litigation, including the representation of large medical institutions, will provide guidance in avoiding mistakes in disseminating patient  more...

Today's Legal Medical Record - A Hybrid Record BenefitsThe goal of this teleconference is to give you some information and a suggested format for developing your definition and policy of the legal health record for your institution. We'll remind ourselves what the real purpose of the medical record is and investigate how we meet those purposes with a hybrid record. We'll look at what the components of the legal medical record include versus  more...

Recovery Audit Contractor Roll Out - What Can We Expect? BenefitsThe permanent Recovery Audit Contractor Program has rolled out in most regions and the RACs have posted new issues approved by CMS for review. This teleconference will review who, what and how providers can prepare for the reviews, the lessons learned and the appeal process, including CMS' recently issued recoupment time limits and interest assessment rules. Medical records directors,  more...

Making Revisions to Closed Medical Records BenefitsMedical records contain some of the most sensitive and personal information that exists about individuals in modern society, and some closed records may need revision because of new information received or because of the requests of individuals to correct or modify existing information. When is it appropriate to make revisions, how and under what circumstances, and at whose request? This  more...

Medical Identity Theft: Why You Must Prevent and How to Minimize Its Occurrence BenefitsMore and more patient information is being captured electronically, both within the provider setting and remotely from the patients themselves. Additionally, an increasing number of myriad touches of this data occur on a daily basis by various known and unknown entities, not all of whom are authorized or have a specific need to know. In this environment, ample opportunity exists for  more...

Medical Professionals and Social Media: Privacy and Security Issues BenefitsIf you have any users of social media in your organization, and chances are you do even if you don't know it, don't miss this teleconference on the privacy and security issues that surround the use of social media by medical professionals. As more and more new physicians and other professionals enter the health care workplace, they are bringing with them the tools and technologies that  more...

Health Information Exchange: The Impact of the Stimulus Code BenefitsIn February of 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act known more commonly as the Stimulus Act. The legislation for a large part included tremendous new legislation, but brings to the forefront, the first time in history, incentives for American doctors to revamp their paper charts to electronic health  more...

Managing External Health Information BenefitsMany health care providers remain frustrated and uncertain about how to handle external health information. This information may come in the form of unsolicited health information - i.e., information that is volunteered by patients or by other health care providers, either at the time the patient arrives for treatment or thereafter - and in some cases even after the patient has been  more...

Introduction to New ICD-10 Coding: Preparing for Implementation nThe International Classification of Disease and Operations, Ninth Edition has out-lived its usefulness for capturing morbidity and mortality amongst the world population. Most developed nations transitioned to ICD-10 several years ago, but because of the tie of ICD-9-CM to payments in the United States there have been a series of delays in the US implementation. As the US moves a lightening speed  more...

Staying Compliant with the Medicare Incident-To Rules nAt a time when every medical practice dollar counts, the Medicare incident-to billing rules can enable physicians to capture revenue from common services performed by office staff. The incident-to rules, while simple on their face, can be complex in their application and failing to follow each element of the rules can result in overpayments and even false claims liability. Knowing the rules and  more...

Managed Care Contracting and Fee Schedule Review nMany practice administrators are charged with the task of negotiating managed care contracts for their practices. This responsibility is generally an inherited function from their predecessor. Most do not understand how to compute an equitable fee schedule or track contract performance. This teleconference will help you understand methods for tracking to performance and how first to establish a  more...