Past Featured Articles
For your convenience, each Precyse Solutions Featured Article is available in .PDF format and can be downloaded at the end of each article.
Auditing IV Hydration Documentation and Coding
As published in August 13, 2009 issue of RACMonitor’s – Special 4 Part Series
Ashley Brandon, MBA, RHIA, CCS
Since the launch of the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) demonstration project
apprehension over the targets for review has continued to increase among medical
facilities as well as associated physicians and rightfully so! Preparedness
offers the best results, with hospitals and physicians encouraged and
recommended to be proactive rather than reactive in their approach. Conducting
internal audit reviews to evaluate areas of concern, establishing baseline
policies and procedures to assure proper coding and billing, and commencing
investigative actions for those problems found, provides a solid foundation as
providers adjust to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
recovery initiative.
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entire article.
CMS RAC Review Phase-in Strategy (as of 6/24/09)
Cheryl Servais, MPH, RHIA
CMS states on their RAC homepage that “Any reviews completed by the RAC must
have been first approved by CMS and posted to the RAC websites. The RAC websites
can be found in the RAC contact information document in the downloads section
below. CMS expects the first approved new issues to be posted in July 2009.”
Although CMS has published this phased in schedule for reviews, it seems likely
that the timing will, once again slip. A review of all 4 RAC websites today did
not reveal any targets for conducting audits or reviews. In fact, the site-page
for Health Data Insights (Region D) is still under construction.
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entire article.
Remote Oncology Abstracting An Option for Your Cancer Program?
Carolyn Ingram, CTRs
Today community cancer programs are challenged by a dwindling supply of
certified tumor registrars (CTRs). In addition to fewer professionals to do the
work, cancer centers are also dealing with stricter program standards and
ever-changing abstraction and submission criteria of cancer data as required by
state and federal laws. "A new solution is emerging — remote oncology
abstracting."
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entire article.