In This Issue:
 July 2010
Your AHIMA Profile
MHIMA Legal Resource Manual
MHIMA Vision and Mission
President's Message
MHIMA Coding & Data Quality
Baseline Continuing Education for ICD-10
MHIMA Job Bank
REACH - What is it?
The Write Stuff
Welcome to July 2010 Uplink
Welcome to the July 2010 issue of our MHIMA member and corporate partner e-newsletter, Uplink. As this issue goes to press, MHIMA begins another year of activities supporting our vision and mission.
For Uplink, we're always interested in articles that are of interest to our broad MHIMA membership. Your article should be no longer than 500 words, and you receive two (2) CE credits for your original work. Contact MHIMA Executive Director.
Current and past issues of our e-newsletter are also available under the UPLINK E-NEWSLETTERS button on our MHIMA website.
If you would like to unsubscribe to our Uplink e-newsletter, please contact ExecutiveDirector
MHIMA Vision and Mission
Vision: The Minnesota Health Information Management Association, together with AHIMA, will set the standard and be the recognized leader in health information management practices, technology, education, research, and advocacy.
Mission: MHIMA is committed to the professional development of its members through education, networking, and life-long learning. These commitments promote high quality health information and benefit the public, health care providers, and other clinical data users.
President's Message
Sue Jensen, RHIT
Welcome to Summer, everyone!! June has just flown by and the weather has been extremely unpredictable this past month. We have had extreme heat, severe thunderstorms, and multiple tornados. Our thoughts and prayers go out the people who have lost loved ones, their homes, and seen communities changed forever during this time. Let’s hope the weather will settle down for a while so that we can enjoy the summer. It will not be long before our second season starts.
As your 2010-2011 President of MHIMA, I am proud, honored, and humbled to accept this position. I feel privileged to follow great leaders in this office. I would like to thank Steph Luthi-Terry, who is a great friend and unbelievable leader. She continues to amaze me with her knowledge and wit.
For those who do not know me, I consider myself a non-traditional HIM professional. I started in healthcare as a Nurses Aide, and then worked as an Office Manager/Direct Care Support staff for an Adult Foster Care corporation for 12 years. Then, a friend asked me to attend college with her for coding. After six weeks, I decided that this was the job for me. I didn't know there was a career geared towards managing records, so I continued in the program and attained my RHIT certification. I have worked as a transcriptionist, clinic coder, adjunct professor, and HIM director for a rural critical access hospital.
I'm a small business owner of a medical supply company and independent retail pharmacy. I never realized, but now appreciate, how much my HIM training would assist me in this field. Every day is spent reviewing documentation, coding accurate diagnoses, ensuring correct payments, compliance with Medicare, commercial insurances, and Medicaid requirements, and maintaining compliance with national accreditation standards.
What a great time to be involved in Health Information Management! There have been many changes and continue to be more opportunities for HIM professionals than we've ever seen. There is nothing "traditional" about Health Information Management. HIM professionals work in a variety of different occupations and manage multiple positions throughout the world.
This month will be an active time for the MHIMA delegates. We will be attending Team Talks in Chicago, July 16-18 and on July 30, MHIMA will be holding our annual Strategic Planning meeting. During this time, we will be determining our goals and strategic work plan objectives for next year. Some of the hot topics will be REACH (Regional Extension Assistance Center for Health IT), 5010, Meaningful Use, and ICD-10. Look for more on these meetings next month. As always, if you have ideas we should consider, please feel free to email them to our MHIMA Executive Director or to myself.
I'm looking forward to this next year and the challenges it brings. Our profession is very diverse and we all have something unique to offer and share. Our knowledge, skill, and passion for our profession make us very powerful people. I encourage each of you to “reach for the stars”; our only limitation is ourselves. Volunteering is a wonderful way to give back and share, not only with our peers, but also other professionals. Please consider joining a MHIMA committee!
Have a Safe and Happy 4th of July!
CCHIIM Requirements for ICD-10 CEUs
The implementation of ICD-10-CM/PCS in 2013 is truly a broad and far-reaching transition coming to our healthcare industry and represnts a major change from our current coding and classification system. As I-10 is implemented, and to assure the industry that AHIMA certified professionals possess the knowledge, skills and abilities corresponding to our AHIMA credential(s), the Commission on Certification for Health Informatics and Information Management (CCHIIM) announced in March, 2010, the mandatory requirement for continuing education hours with ICD-10-CM/PCS for all AHIMA certified professionals, effective 1/1/2011 through 12/31/2013. During this time period, the following number of ICD-10-CM/PCS CEUs will be required:
CHPS: 1 CEU
CHDA: 6 CEUs
RHIT: 6 CEUs
RHIA: 6 CEUs
CCS-P: 12 CEUs
CCS: 18 CEUs
CCA: 18 CEUs
Individuals holding multiple AHIMA credentials will only report the highest number of CEUs from among all credentials held. For example, if you hold both an RHIA and CCS, you would need 18 CEUs to cover the requirement for ICD-10-CM/PCS during this two-year period.
You can read the full document from CCHIIM, including FAQs, from this link.
One of MHIMA's top strategies for the coming year will be ICD-10-CM/PCS.
REACH - Advancing Health Information Technology for Minnesota and North Dakota
In February, 2010, the federal government announced that the Key Health Alliance (KHA) a MN-based non-profit partnership of Stratis Health, the Rural Health Resource Center, and The College of St. Scholastica, was awarded a $19 million grant to serve as one of 60 federally designated Regional Extension Assistance Centers for Health Information Technology (REACH) for Minnesota and North Dakota. The Key Health Alliance partners will collaborate with North Dakota Health Care Review and the University of North Dakota, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Center for Rural Health. The goal of each REACH is to improve the quality and value of care delivered through adoption and meaningful use of an EHR.
Minnesota and North Dakota's REACH, the Key Health Alliance, will provide consulting services for technical guidance, support and assistance to primary care physician offices and critical access hospitals, at a subsidized rate, to assist them in selecting, implementing and/or effectively using an EHR in order to achieve Stage 1 Meaningful Use criteria by the January 2012 deadline. Other providers can utilize REACH services on a fee for service basis. The HITECH Act provides incentive payments to doctors and hospitals that adopt and meaningfully use health information technology.
Tools available on the KHA's REACH website will help organizations build their communication plan.
You can find more information on Meaningful Use and e-Health Iniatives on the Minnesota Department of Health's website.
We've also provided a link to both of these from our Minnesota CoP.
The Write Stuff
Carolyn Gaarder, MLA, RHIA
Thanks to C. Kay Smith and her articles published in the Journal of the National Cancer Registrar Association. This is an adaption of one of her articles. School is not out yet! Time for one more quick and easy quiz.
In each of the following sentences, select the best response.
Q1. Following the recommended treatment protocol will ensure/assure/ insure that the patient has the best chance for survival.
A. Following the recommended treatment protocol will ensure that the patient has the best chance for survival.
Q2. In his letter, the nonprofit organization’s director ensured/assured/insured contributors that steps were being taken to tighten the budget.
A. In his letter, the nonprofit organization's director ensured contributors that steps were being taken to tighten the budget.
The terms ensure, assure, and insure all mean to make certain or to make secure. However, assure should only be used to mean providing comfort or setting the mind at rest, it has an emotional connotation that is typically not used in scientific or business writing, Typically, ensure is the desired term for conveying that an event will occur or a task will be completed. Rarely, do we confuse either of these terms with insure, which is used when the sense is protection against risk, particularly financial loss.
Q3. Channel 10’s meteorologist predicted that the winds would be calmer/more calm the next day.
A. Channel 10’s meteorologist predicted that the winds would be calmer the next day.
Q4. Sally was the taller/tallest of the five girls.
A. Knowing when to add or er/est is challenging. Usually, when comparing two items, er is used. Which of the two girls is taller? When comparing three or more items, est is used. Which of the three girls is tallest?
Q5. Laboratory tests revealed that 9% of the study population had asymptomatic infections; this was higher then/than predicted.
A. Laboratory tests revealed that 9% of the study population had symptomatic infections; this was higher than predicted.
Q6. After the completed questionnaires were returned, the data were entered, then/than the analysis began.
A. After the completed questionnaires were returned, the data were entered and then the analysis began.
Although everyone probably knows the difference between these two words, they are often used incorrectly. Perhaps the similar spellings cause us to miss these errors when we proofread our own writing. The fact that our spellcheckers do not flag them for use does not help us catch these problems either. When proofreading your own writing, try reading it aloud.
Q7. The ship captain blew the horn to let the passengers know that the cruise was finally underway/ under way.
A. The ship captain blew the horn to let the passengers know that the cruise was finally underway.
Q8. After the meal was well underway/under way, John decided to join the group, causing the server confusion.
A. After the meal was well under way, John decided to join the group, causing the server confusion.
Certain terms seem like they should be just one word and under way is one of them. However, underway should only be used in a nautical sense.
Q9. The principle/principal finding of the investigation was the basis of the health department’s recommendation to the city council.
A. The principal finding of the investigation was the basis of the health department’s recommendation to the city council.
Q10. The human subjects review determined the principle/principal investigator’s protocol was public health practice, not research.
A. The human subjects review determined the principal investigator’s protocol was public health practice, not research.
The rule we learned in school about the principal being our pal might be the reason we sometimes use principle incorrectly. Principal means chief or foremost, even when referring to inanimate objects. Principle means a law of rule of action or conduct (e.g., we stand on our principles).
Bonus question: Is the correct expression “couldn’t care less” or “could care less”?
Although we often hear, “Oh, I could care less about that”, the correct expression actually is “couldn’t care less.” The saying is meant to be taken literally. We really could not care any less about the subject.
School is out!!!!
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When is the last time you reviewed the information in your AHIMA profile? Have you changed positions? Have a new email address? Have you recently moved? These are just a few of the data elements in your AHIMA profile, and MHIMA uses this information on a regular basis.
Take a minute or two right now, visit the AHIMA Website, log in with your 7-digit AHIMA member number and your last name (capitalize the first letter!), and click on "My Profile/Dues Renewal." Review all of the four sections and update the information as appropriate.
In the section for My Communication Preferences, may we ask that you check "YES" under the CSA Selection box for emails? MHIMA uses email as our primary means of communication, and if you check "NO" in this box, you don't receive any emails from us. Thank you!
The 2009 Legal Resource Manual remains available for purchase! This Manual is a complete update of the 2007 version and includes the laws and rules that address the majority of issues that may arise with respect to health information practice. There are many new updates in every chapter. As one member states, "This is truly a valuable resource for anyone that works with health care." It's a compilation of best practices and experience of HIM professionals and the facilities they represent in Minnesota, and it's had extensive legal review.
There will not be another update to the Legal Manual until 2011.
All HIM Departments should have this Manual in their office for ready reference. It's available on CD only and can be purchased from the MHIMA Store button on the MHIMA website.
The MHIMA Coding & Data Quality Committee has added an another toolkit for use by MHIMA members to support coding education and discussion in your facilities and at your regional meetings. The newest PowerPoint presentation, including case study questions, is "Neoplasms - Carcinoid Tumor" There is an accompanying case study answer presentation.
The general "Do It Yourself" PowerPoint tool kit gives you the guidelines to set up a coding roundtable.
Additional tool kits on specific topics that have been developed and are available include Interventional Radiology, E&M, Heart Failure, updated Present on Admission (POA) and Aftercare vs Follow Up.
All are available on the Coding and Data Quality button on the MHIMA website. Watch for additional toolkits as they are developed!
And a reminder about your general coding questions: You are encouraged to use AHIMA's Coding CoPs for coding related questions. There is a general coding CoP community for coders as well as several for specific coding areas. These CoPs are a great resource for submitting coding questions and participating in the discussion threads surrounding the questions of others. To participate in these CoPs, Click Here.
Are you seeking a job? Are you an employer looking for a potential employee? Is your facility looking for someone with a skill set of MHIMA members? Be sure to check out the MHIMA Job Bank Network on our website. Here, you'll find information about registering as a "Job Seeker" or as an "Employer". New positions are posted frequently, so check us out often!
Job Seekers: There is no fee to register.
Employers: Job posting fees are very reasonable and reach all of our MHIMA membership. E-blasts of job announcements are also available for purchase.
Click Here to visit the MHIMA Job Bank.
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