AAHAM to hold Annual National Institute

In a recent press release, the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management announced that it will hold its Annual National Institute from October 14-16 in Scottsdale, AZ at the Fairmont Princess Resort and Spa.  The conference will focus on the future of health care in the U.S.’s changing economy. 

Over the three days, there will be educational sessions, opportunities to hear from keynote speakers-over 50 of them-as well as networking in an exhibit hall.  The speaker series will focus on five health care topics: management/revenue cycle, access/quality management, compliance, leadership/professional development, and specialty. 

For more information about the event, visit www.aaham.org or contact AAHAM directly at (703) 281-4043.

PRN Funding Contributes to August Edition of Matrix Journal

Phil Cohen, CEO of PRN Funding, LLC, recently wrote a piece for the August 2009 edition of Health Data Matrix (the business and technology journal of AHDI and MTIA).  From pages 18-20 in the journal, Cohen outlined five questions every medical transcription service owner (MTSO) should ask their factoring company.  The questions are listed below:

  1. Do you understand the medical transcription industry?
  2. How flexible is your factoring program?
  3. How long will it take to get my questions answered?
  4. How long have you been in business?
  5. What are your fees?

These questions don’t just apply to MTSOs; all health care vendors should ask these questions to become comfortable with their factoring firm.

Speakers Wanted for 2010 AAPC Nat’l Conference

The American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) is asking for speaking commitments from payers, providers, and administrators in the coding industry.  Online applications are currently being accepted through September 20.  The organization is looking for speakers to discuss the latest trends in health care and current topics within the industry.

A list of sample topics can be found on the AAPC website.  Selected speakers will be notified by email by November 20.

The 18th national conference, which will be held in Nashville, TN from June 6-9, will feature 45 educational sessions and more than 70 exhibitors.

To learn more about the program, click here: AAPC Issues Call for Speakers for 2010 National Conference

MTs of the Future

Lea M. Sims, a CMT with AHDI, recently wrote a an article for AdvanceWeb.com detailing the fast-changing future of medical transcription and what industry insiders can do to keep up.  With health care reform slated to be passed before the end of the year, the Association of Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) has been endorsing the crucial role that health care documentation specialists play within the industry.  These professionals are responsible for capturing and documenting patient encounter information.  The future of this industry is uncertain, however AHDI has been promoting that Capitol Hill includes this critical part of the health care system into the final bill that is signed towards the end of 2009.

Technologies such as the electronic health record (EHR) and speech recognition technology (SRT) are evolving faster than ever.  AHDI’s newest campaign, called Knowledge is Everything, calls on students, postgraduates, and MTs in the industry to stay connected and up-to-date. The organization is suggesting that everyone in the industry complete the following 5 tasks (if they haven’t already):

  • Graduate from an ACCP-approved school
  • Earn your registered medical transcriptionist (RMT) credential upon graduation
  • Subscribe to Benchmark KB to stay informed within the industry
  • Become a member of AHDI
  • Embrace level II credentialing through the certified medical transcriptionist credentialing program

Click here to read Sims’ entire article: Knowledge is Everything

Tough Road Ahead for OH Nursing Homes

A recent article in the Columbus Dispatch explained why nursing homes throughout Ohio are in for some difficult times.  A majority of the 958 skilled nursing homes in the buckeye state will have to adjust to an atypically unfavorable state budget over the next two years.  The budget, signed by Governor Ted Strickland on July 17, will enforce an increase in the bed tax on nursing homes.  Industry officials estimate it will cost nursing homes $184 million in the next two years, or $200,000 per home on average.  According to these officials, it will also mark the first time that nursing homes will pay more in fees than what Medicaid reimburses them. 

Some facilities across the state are expected to merge due to cost-constraints, while some are expected to completely close their doors.  The ones that stay open will have to cut costs and most likely will lay off workers, significantly lowering the quality of patient care. 

Medicaid has always favored nursing homes.  In fact, nursing homes are the only provider of Medicaid for which automatic increases in payments are written into law.  However, the miserable economic climate in Ohio won out as the state desperately needs more tax revenue. 

In addition, nursing homes will soon pay a considerably higher franchise fee of $11.95 per bed each day, up from $6.25.  This revenue, expected to be upwards of $760 million, will contribute to federal matching Medicaid funds. 

The article also reported that the increasing amount paid per patient by Medicaid to nursing homes is misleading ($176.42 per patient this year and $176.46 per patient next year), because a total of $9.61 is earmarked to go towards ancillary care and the work force development incentive payment.  This means that although the amount paid by Medicaid to nursing homes will increase $0.04 in the next two years, in reality it will decrease by $9.57 due to the earmarks.  Out of the $9.61, $5.70 will go towards raising wages.  However, most nursing homes feel that raising wages to some comes at the expense of firing other employees.  Some hospitals refuse to use the money in this way.

To read the entire article from The Columbus Dispatch, click here: Nursing homes take a hit

MD Trying to Prevent Nursing Shortage

Washington Post staff reporter, Rick Rojas, recently wrote an article documenting the incredible efforts going on in Maryland to increase the number of nurses as well as nursing educators.  The Maryland Hospital Association plan to give $15.5 million over the next five years to 17 MD nursing schools to increase the number of students they can accept in their programs, which should also increase the number of nurses in the state.  The grant money will be coming from a number of sources, but mainly from healthcare providers, insurers, and individual donors all worrisome over the inevitable nursing shortage. 

The number of patients filling doctors’ offices is growing at an alarming rate in MD.  Catherine Crowley, VP of the Maryland Hospital Association, explains that with life expectancies going up due to more healthy and active citizens, Maryland will need 10,000 more nurses than it currently has in order to meet the needs of patients. 

According to Nancy Fiedler, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Hospital Association, the average age for a nurse in MD is 47, and about 43% of all nurses plan on retiring sometime in the next three years.  Crowley says the problem is further developed when approximately 1,000 qualified nursing school applicants are turned down each year due to inadequate faculty numbers and classroom space. 

Crowley estimates that about 360 more faculty members are needed in MD nursing school programs.  The schools also have to buy upgraded medical technology and new laboratories.  Since the distribution of monies has been announced, Montgomery College, one of the recipients, already has plans in place to invest their piece of the pie into three new laboratories. 

To read the entire Washington Post article, click here: Preventive Medicine for A Shortage Of Nurses

How Medical Transcriptionists can become more Efficient

Even though medical transcription is an integral part of the health care system, the process can become tedious and boring for the people transcribing.  The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) and the Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA) are currently updating their “Metrics for Measuring Quality in Medical Transcription”, which is slated for a fall debut.  If you cannot wait a couple more months, Cheryl McEvoy of Advance’s Journal for Health Information Professionals, has you covered with tips for improving health documentation.  Below is a summary of her advice:

Rushing: Do not focus on your speed while transcribing.  Accuracy is the most important part of documentation and typing faster does not improve the quality of the document.  According to Barb Marques, President of AHDI, you can improve your pace without sacrificing quality by building templates around each doctor that has a customary way of dictating specific sections.  However, don’t assume that every dictation will be standardized and be sure to listen to each one carefully.

Zoning Out: Marques says that transcriptionists should be actively engaged while at work.  You need to be extremely focused on what you are typing and if it actually makes sense within the context of the document.

Distractions: This is mainly a problem for MTs who work from home.  Instead of working from the living room with the TV on and your kids running around, find a quiet area in the house to get your work done.  Also, have quality head phones and a comfortable chair to make the experience enjoyable.

Blanks: Sometimes there are spots where we cannot decipher what the doctor said.  Don’t worry about it, and continue with the rest of the document.  By the end, you should have a better grasp of the context of the document so you can go back and try to fill in these blanks. 

Errors: Donna Brosmer, a quality officer at Spheris in Franklin, TN strongly encourages MTs to proofread their work.  It doesn’t take too long to go over the work you have done.  By doing so, you can eliminate grammatical errors and typos and avoid mistakes with drug names and doses.  She also advises to get in the habit of seeing errors by searching for errors in signs or restaurant menus. 

Falling Short: It is unlikely to achieve perfection in every document you produce.  However, striving towards a perfect score is commendable.  Ask your quality assurance supervisor for regular and timely feedback.  You should look to accept constructive criticism from your QA supervisor to improve your work.

Jackson Health System Needs Better Cash Flow

According to an article in the Miami Herald, the Jackson Health System in Miami-Dade is running out of money.  As its tax revenues continue to fall, a record number of uninsured patients are flooding emergency rooms and receiving free care.  In addition, the hospital system is expected to have $56 million in losses this year and $168 million in losses next year.  Many hospitals across the country are facing the same challenges as Jackson.

The root of Jackson’s problem is its $121 million shortfall in tax support needed to pay for charity care.  This number is estimated to increase substantially over the next couple of years as the number of uninsured patients is expected to increase 27% this year and the amount of revenue from sales taxes is expected to fall. 

Eneida Roldan, Jackson’s chief executive, has come up with a 100 Day Plan to cut costs and improve efficiencies.  She has two main goals for the plan: improve billing and collecting practices and improve cash reserves by getting quicker payments from insurers and governments.  Improving cash flow is a difficult task because of slow-paying insurance companies, but is absolutely necessary due to a recent finding that Jackson will be unable to make payroll by the end of 2011. 

Jackson is fighting to get stimulus dollars, but these proposals have not been approved by Washington.  Presently, the system is making internal structural improvements.  However, it is holding off on some long-term capital improvements so that operating losses can be funded.

Healthcare vendors currently working with Miami-Dade should pay close attention to future developments on this story.

To read the entire article, click here: Miami-Dade’s financially-strapped public hospital system to ask for more tax money 

New Jersey takes action to avoid Nursing Shortage

Forty-six former nursing masters and doctoral students have been chosen to participate in the New Jersey Nursing Initiative.  The $22 million program, which is privately funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, has pledged to help solve the looming nursing shortage in the state. 

The 46 participants will be receiving a $50,000 stipend, along with full-rides to attend in-state schools.  However, they must teach nursing students at a New Jersey college for a minimum of three years after graduation. 

According to Susan Bakeswell-Sachs, director of the program and nursing dean at the College of New Jersey, women opting to enter different professional fields and a decline in scholarships for nursing students throughout the 1990s are two main causes of the current shortage.  In addition, Nurses who work in clinical settings make on average $50,000 more per year than a nurse educator. 

Even though studies from the early 2000s predicted nursing shortages within the next 15-20 years, enrollment in the field has dramatically increased.  However, the number of faculty and administrators cannot accommodate this influx.  In fact, roughly 50,000 nurse student applications are denied each year because of faculty shortages.

Billboards in Philadelphia are urging nurses to move into the classroom so that more aspiring nurses can be educated and the nursing shortage can be averted.  The recession plays a role in the shortage as well, but surprisingly a positive one.  Nurses who would otherwise be retired are still working due to financial constraints. In addition, nurses who had been temping part-time when the economy was in better shape have also started going back to full-time employment. According to Linda Aiken, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, believes that once the recession ends, the nursing shortage will most likely become a crisis as these older nurses begin to retire; add in Obama’s proposed health care plan to provide 47 million more Americans with health insurance, and the nursing shortage of today seems almost irrelevant.

Click here to read the Philly.com article: Scholarship program aims to stem N.J. nursing shortage

Nursing Shortage threatens Health Care Reform Success

The medical staffing factoring experts at PRN Funding recently came across an article in The Daily Tell that focused on the nation’s nurse shortage. A summary of the article is included below:

The number of nurses in America is declining at an alarming rate.  As the aging baby boomer population demands health care, more nurses are depended upon everyday.  Nurses are vital to health care success.  In fact, with more nurses working in a healthcare setting, fewer medical mistakes are made and fewer hospital-acquired infections are obtained.  Studies also show that hospitals with more nurses have shorter patient stays and lower patient mortality rates.  There are currently 2.5 million nurses in America; projections for 2025 have this number at 500,000. 

Luckily, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) have begun working together on an initiative to inject more qualified nurses into the American health care system.  Their partnership will create a panel of health care experts and aims to create and improve nursing education programs for the future. 

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of RWJF explains that, “For health reform to succeed, and for patients to receive better care at a cost we can afford, we must change the way health care is delivered.  And nursing is at the heart of patient care.”

Nurses currently make up the largest section of the health care workforce.  Hopefully this initiative keeps it that way. 

To read the entire article click here: Nursing initiative will address future of healthcare, nursing shortage

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