ICD-10 Coffee Klatch Webinar
This ICD-10 Coffee Klatch webinar is an informative review and excellent starting point for physician and hospital coders. Ms. Toni Woods and Ms. Whitney Horton, both AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainers, will give viewers a glimpse of Welter Healthcare Partners’s formal ICD-10 Coder Academies and training, and provide an overview of ICD-10 Coding Conventions, Chapter Guidelines, Code Structures and an introduction to the 31 root operations in the Medical and Surgical sections of ICD-10-PCS.nn
Welter Healthcare Partners is proud to announce that we’ve received approval to renew our contract with the 
The Department of Health and Human Services has pushed forward several alternative payment models for the healthcare industry.nnIn recent years, the federal government has positioned the healthcare industry to adopt new reimbursement tactics aimed at strengthening pay-for-performance initiatives. These regulations consist of alternative payment models such as bundled payments or value-based care reimbursement. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), for instance, established the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model, which consists of implementing bundled payments or reimbursement based on an episode of care within hip and knee replacement surgeries.The proposed rule for the bundled payment model was initially was published on July 9, 2015 and the finalized legislation was made available on November 16, 2015. The start date of the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model is set for April 1, 2016. “The CJR [Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement] model holds participant hospitals financially accountable for the quality and cost of a CJR episode of care and incentivizes increased coordination of care among hospitals, physicians, and post-acute care providers,” CMS stated on its website.nn“The episode of care begins with an admission to a participant hospital of a beneficiary who is ultimately discharged under MS-DRG 469 (Major joint replacement or reattachment of lower extremity with major complications or comorbidities) or 470 (Major joint replacement or reattachment of lower extremity without major complications or comorbidities) and ends 90 days post-discharge in order to cover the complete period of recovery for beneficiaries. The episode includes all related items and services paid under Medicare Part A and Part B for all Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, with the exception of certain exclusions.” CMS has had a rich history of supporting bundled payment models starting in the 1980s when an inpatient prospective payment system was created. This was the first step in which the Medicare program reimbursed hospitals based on a fixed amount for each patient’s hospital stay and diagnosis.n
Hospitals amassing more and more administrative, clinical, financial and ICD-10 data are looking to harness statistics, data science and mining tools and the electronic health record market is expanding but new obstacles are arising. nnThe predictive analytics market is gaining traction and driving EHR growth. But in something of a twist the costs of new EHR tools are simultaneously creating a significant barrier to big data and analytics, according to a new Research and Markets report.nnIndeed, as healthcare providers continue to amass copious amounts of healthcare data, including clinical, administrative and financial information as well as the shift from ICD-9 to ICD-10, are all leading healthcare organizations to implement analytics tools to make use of accrued data, according to the report.nnEHR adoption, meanwhile, is growing among healthcare providers, and the market will continue to expand at a CGR of 5.53 percent over the next four years, Research and Markets projected.nn“One trend impelling growth in this market is the increased adoption of predictive analytics,” one of the report’s analysts commented. “The ever increasing volume variety, and velocity of clinical and non-clinical data have compelled healthcare organizations to implement statistical tools, data science and mining technology.”nnBut implementation of healthcare information systems, encompassing EHR software, hardware and network installation costs, are also some of the greatest hindrances en route to a future of big data and predictive analytics, Research and Markets noted.nnWhat’s more, the extra hardware and software installation involved when integrating EHR systems with pharmacy and laboratory data may prove to be too expensive for smaller hospitals and providers in developing countries to put new analytics to work anytime soon, the report said.nnThis