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Chart Conundrums: Queries: Moving Beyond Business as Usual to Identify Learning Opportunities

By Clarissa Barnes, MD for For The Record While often said in jest, my dislike of getting queries delivered to my inbox is (at least indirectly) 100% responsible for my work as a physician advisor. Queries were an intrusion in my otherwise organized workflow. It seemed like my only option was to keep answering them…

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The best way for hospitals to avoid revenue loss: 2 execs weigh in

By Katie Adams from Becker’s Hospital Review U.S. hospital margins are remaining narrow, prompting healthcare revenue cycle leaders to examine their processes and make sure no money is falling through the cracks. Donna Ellenburg, revenue cycle director at Birmingham, Ala.-based Grandview Medical Center, said hospitals can avoid losing revenue by adhering to the following process: verifying…

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Guest post: Patience required for onboarding and mentoring new CDI staff

By Sonja Racke, RN, BSBM, CPC, CRCR for the ACDIS CDI Blog How many of you remember the nursing days of “see one, do one, teach one?” Of having Nurse Wretched (not Ratchet) hanging over your shoulder while inserting your first Foley catheter in a female grumbling “just look for the blinking eye” and then…

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COVID-19 herd immunity likely unattainable, experts say

By Erica Carbajal for Becker’s Hospital Review Early in the COVID-19 crisis, herd immunity, occurring when most of a population has immunity based on prior infection or vaccination, was considered a way out of the pandemic. Now, experts are saying such a threshold is unattainable, The New York Times reported May 3. That’s in part due to the…

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Poor EHR usability linked to nurse burnout, patient mortality and readmission: study

By Jackie Drees for Becker’s Hospital Review EHR usability issues are being associated with nurse burnout, which can lead to higher rates of surgical patient mortality and readmissions, according to a recent study published in the journal Medical Care. For the study, a team of University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing researchers analyzed data on 343…

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CMS star ratings are out: 4 things to know

By Erica Carbajal for Becker’s Hospital Review CMS updated its Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings on its Hospital Compare website April 28. The updated ratings are based on CMS’ revised methodology. Four things to know: 1. CMS’ star rating system, launched in 2016, assigns stars based on 48 measures in the following five categories: mortality, safety of care,…

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10 most common passwords used by healthcare employees

By Jackie Drees for Becker’s Hospital Review When it comes to preferred passwords among healthcare industry employees, many are choosing weak options that can make their employer hospital or health system organization vulnerable to cyberattacks, according to an April 20 NordPass report. For its analysis, NordPass, a password manager for B2B and B2C clients, partnered…

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How CMS final rule will impact E/M coding and documentation requirements

By Ben Howard for Med City News This year ushered in many changes affecting reimbursement for healthcare providers, but few are as important as the new Physician Fee Schedule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the updated coding guidelines for Evaluation and Management (E/M) services from the American Medical Association. For…

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Federal sepsis guidelines largely ineffective, UPMC study finds

By Mackenzie Bean for Becker’s Hospital Review The care bundle CMS implemented in 2015 to improve outcomes for sepsis patients did not lead to significant improvements at Pittsburgh-based UPMC, according to a Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine analyzed EHR data from 54,224 visits of adult patients at 11…

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