PUBLICATIONS
All New! The Latest Information on Hospital Inpatient Coding and Reimbursement
Coding and Reimbursement for Hospital Inpatient Services, Second Edition is a comprehensive text for educators and students covering all aspects of hospital inpatient coding and reimbursement.
 Coding and Reimbursement for Hospital Inpatient Services, Second Edition
Karen S. Scott, MEd, RHIA, CCS-P, CPC
This edition contains new material on Present on Admission (POA) coding and Medicare Severity-adjusted Diagnostic Related Groups (MS-DRGs). It also provides a detailed treatment of:
- Reimbursement and methodologies for inpatient services
- Structure and organization of Medicare inpatient acute care PPS
- The relationship between coding and DRG assignment
- Data quality and coding compliance processes
Order Information:
Product Number: AC206208
ISBN/ISSN: 978-1-58426-198-8
Price: $80.95
Member Price: $64.95
© 2009 Softcover
To order, visit here. Questions about AHIMA Publications? E-mail us!
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QUESTION OF THE MONTH
 Last month, AHIMA brand communications manager Pat Ebbers asked, "What's the best professional 'tool' you use in the performance of your job? Is it a book, a device, an idea, or something else?" Here are your responses.
Answer: Time. Time is the tool I can’t do without when working professionally. Time to think it through. Time to think with pen-in-hand. Time to consider the ramifications of a decision on all affected. Time to research, think out loud, or convene a meeting with employees, colleagues, and other professionals for their ideas and for their thoughts about mine. Time to "sleep on it" and proofread it one more time for clarity of message and intent.
Oh, and when there is little time or no time, then the tool I use most is trust! Trust that a perspective based on doing the above so many times prepares me to think on my feet when I need to.
Anonymous
The best professional "tool" I use is the AHIMA Web site—especially the Communities of Practice (CoP) and the Fore: Body of Knowledge (BoK). The resources found there are the best ever. When you have a question, just post it to one of the many CoP Discussion Threads and sometimes within minutes you will get at least one response, but often more. It's a great opportunity to network with your peers, too. The BOK has numerous articles, sample forms, and so forth, that are crucial to our everyday jobs. Having all this information in one place is just another great benefit of AHIMA membership.
Rae Freeman, RHIA, CCS-P
As a DRG Coordinator for a large acute care center in the Bronx, NY, the most important professional tools that I utilize are my grouper manuals. The Medicare and AP grouper manuals, current and from previous years, are invaluable when answering denials or DRG discrepancies. They also help optimize reimbursement.
Tracey Pinelli
My best professional tool is my management team, their staff, and the level of professionalism they all bring to the table. Each of my managers has different strengths. It is my responsibility to recognize those strengths, support them, and then get out of their way and let them do their job. Every day I rely on their individual strengths and areas of expertise to assist me in doing my job. They are my best professional tool.
Yvonne Stiller, MA, RHIA
What helps me perform my best at what I do is meeting and understanding
the needs of our patients and clients such as insurance companies, attorneys, the Department of Social Services, and others. Meeting the needs of patients and understanding why it is important for the HIM department to meet their needs in a timely matter is the best tool that I use and keep in mind every time I help a patient in the Release of Information area. Receiving a thank-you phone call is so appreciated in my field and even when we dont get one it's ok. Quality, time, integrity, and safety give remarkable results.
Randy Sheeler
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UPCOMING AUDIO SEMINARS AND WEBINARS
 Here's the most convenient way to get the information you need to excel professionally. AHIMA makes it easy and affordable, with the ability for several people to listen for the same low price and no associated travel costs.
ICD-9-CM Diagnostic Coding Guidelines for Outpatient Services
June 12
CPT® Surgery Coding Guidelines
June 19
Release of Information: The Nuts and Bolts
June 24
Coding for Quality Reporting Measures
July 10
Benchmarking Coding Quality
July 24
Coding Endoscopic Sinus Surgery
July 31
Two AHIMA CEUs are awarded for each audio seminar or webinar you attend. Just $179 for members (or $229 for nonmembers) per seminar pays for as many colleagues as you wish to invite to your site! Your registration includes:
- Access to the seminar for as many colleagues as you can fit in a room with a speakerphone—$179/$229 is the per-site charge, NOT the per-person cost!
- Presentation handouts are available in advance on our Web site.
- When you participate in the live broadcast, you follow the presentation online at no extra charge!
If you cannot attend a live seminar, you can purchase the seminar on audio CD or pre-recorded Webcast format. Volume discounts are available for ordering any four or more seminars, in any format, at the same time. Seminars begin at 1 p.m. ET. For registration and information, go here or call (800) 335-5535. Questions about AHIMA Audio Seminars? E-mail us!
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UPCOMING SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS
For more information and a complete list of AHIMA seminars, workshops, and conferences, go here.
Assembly on Education Symposium and Faculty Development Institute
July 12–16, Louisville, KY
Executive Skills Institute
July 21–24, Chicago, IL
Workflow Analysis: Foundation for Transitioning to e-HIM®
August 12-13, Chicago, IL
Clinical Coding Regional Workshops: Achieving Coding Excellence
August 14–15, Salt Lake City, UT
2008 Legal EHR Conference: Ensuring Health Record Integrity
August 18–19, Chicago, IL
AHIMA Convention and Exhibit
October 13–15, 2008
Pre-Convention Program October 11–12
Post-Convention Program October 16
Seattle, WA
Plan now to join us at the 80th AHIMA Convention and Exhibit. Equip yourself to navigate challenges, meet today’s requirements, and prepare for what’s next in the health information management (HIM) profession. Registration and housing are now open! AHIMA has secured the best hotel rates. Make your reservations before September 12. Visit here for details.
AHIMA Is Going Green
All new! AHIMA is minimizing the adverse effects the convention and exhibit has on the environment. We’re taking environmentally minded steps by going paperless, offering recycling bins, and more. As part of this effort, handouts will be accessible online before, during, and after the convention. You’ll have plenty of room to store them on your jump drive, which is provided free at registration!
Questions about upcoming seminars and workshops? E-mail us!
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WEB-BASED TRAINING
Sharpen Your Skills with AHIMA’s Web-based Training in Data Quality
and content
AHIMA’s Web-based classes are perfect solutions for those seeking to strengthen their skills while managing a busy schedule. Web-based classes are available anytime, enabling students to learn at their own pace at home or at work.
Clinical Terminology Systems Program
In cooperation with the College of American Pathologists (CAP), AHIMA developed courses on Introduction to Clinical Terminology Systems, SNOMED CT® Basics, and using Clinical Terminology Systems.
Data Mapping in Electronic Health Records
This course provides an introduction to contemporary data maps used in electronic health records. There will be a discussion of cross-maps that link content from one classification system or terminology scheme to another.
Data Reporting Requirements for Quality Initiatives
This course provides organizations and providers with steps to ensure data quality. Topics of discussion will include pay for performance, value-based purchasing programs, and importance of quality data. There will also be a review of various quality initiatives being implemented in today’s healthcare environment and the required reporting data elements.
How Minimum Data Set Affects (MDS) Long Term Care Reimbursement
This course provides an overview of the purpose and functionality for the MDS. The negative effects of an inaccurate MDS on a facility and best practices for MDS completion will also be reviewed.
Logical Observation Identifiers, Names, and Codes (LOINC)
This course provides an introduction to LOINC and the usage of this terminology in electronic health information exchange. Return to Table of Contents
FORE ANNOUNCEMENTS
 FORE Not So Silent Auction to Be Held at AHIMA Convention
FORE is preparing for the 13th Annual FORE Not-So-Silent Auction to be held at AHIMA’s 2008 Convention and Exhibit in Seattle. Anyone can participate. We've received many generous donations for the auction from state associations and AHIMA members, but to make the event a huge success, more are needed.
All proceeds from the auction benefit the FORE Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships range from $1,000 to $5,000 and much of the funding for the scholarship program comes from the annual auction.
Convention exhibitors donating a nonprofessional item with a retail value of $300 or more will receive their company’s color logo on their donated item’s bid sheet on display at the auction!
More information on the annual auction and the form for auction items can be located on
the FORE Web site.
Questions about FORE? E-mail us!
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JOURNAL OF AHIMA FEATURE ARTICLE
 The Great PHRontier
Private Business Stakes a Claim in Personal Health Records
by Chris Dimick
There is a gold rush in personal health records. Or at least on paper.
Over the last two years, a wave of companies not typically associated with health information exchange have rounded up their technological wagons and headed out into the PHR frontier looking for profit and a chance to change the healthcare landscape. The gold rush has drawn companies like Microsoft (Health Vault) and Google (Google Health). It is the next venture for Steve Case, cofounder of AOL (Revolution Health). Fortune 500 companies including AT&T and BP have joined to create a PHR service called Dossia.
By some estimates there are 200 PHR products on the market. But the deep pockets, technological prowess, and wide reach of these four ventures make them major contenders in the PHR market. Private businesses are stepping in to fill a need in healthcare, putting their money and reputations on the line. Are they trailblazers? Or will they get lost in the wilds of healthcare?
To read the rest of this article, please go here.
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