Sep 9, 2019 | Blog, Information Sharing, Operational Outcomes, Release of Information, Uncategorized
Observations about the changing nature of health information practice
By Linda Kloss
Arriving for her mammogram, she is told that the radiologists will not read her digital mammography without the historical files. In following up, the staff at the “most wired” health system acknowledged that they had received the request, but the fax number didn’t work and they had called once to follow up but didn’t connect to a live person. The ROI team didn’t know about the digital files because those were handled elsewhere and they had no information or responsibility for that aspect of the request. Anxious follow up calls produced fairly quick responses and the mammography test results were interpreted and were normal. You have probably also guessed that I was the patient in this story. Ironic, eh?
This simple story is repeated over and over again. In this case, there were no quality of care consequences, just a frustrated delay and some worry. In other instances, such errors have real consequences. Getting access and disclosure right in the current environment is a complex systems challenge requiring coordination of three elements of change: technical, political, and cultural:
- Technical systems include workflow procedures, transaction and analytic technologies, guiding policies, business practices, regulations, and standards.
- Political systems are the ways that authority and responsibility for administering technical systems are assigned among stakeholders. Today there is a drive toward greater standardization and even centralization of ROI to improve accuracy and efficiency.
- Cultural issues include the shifting organizational and societal values and pressures for change. The emphasis on patient access, patient-generated health information and use of apps at the same time there is growing concern about personal privacy and breaches demonstrates cultural dilemmas.
The technical systems failed in this example. There was no accountability baked into the processes of either organization. Obviously, their technology did not include any flagging about open requests. For a care coordination issue, they were way outside the range of efficient information sharing. The interpretation and digital records were not handled in a coordinated manner; these were unlinked transactions with no responsible party. While I did all the right things to start the process, I made the assumption that given enough time—5 months—the systems would work on my behalf. I did not follow up. But should I have to? We live in a world where trillions of transactions across all aspects of our lives are handled reliably on line with feedback to the initiator and the ability to track transactions.
This blog, sponsored by Verisma, represents the company’s core commitment to serving patients with game-changing disclosure management technology and innovative management solutions designed for accurate, timely, and compliant disclosure management. At its 4th Disclosure Management Summit held in May, Verisma challenged participants to be working toward a goal of “your records in 5 minutes.” In the coming months, we are going to explore what it will take to meet this challenge. We look forward to your engagement and participation.
Sep 18, 2018 | Blog, Operational Outcomes, Release of Information, Uncategorized
By: Linda Kloss
The professional discipline of ROI has changed in the past two decades. Your job has changed. And, without a doubt, expectations around your performance have changed.
Once, ROI was a narrow hospital-centric workflow that could be outsourced and forgotten. No more. Now we are called upon to manage access and
disclosure across and beyond an entire healthcare enterprise – and in support of a mission-critical imperative of improving the patient experience.
3 major drivers
What is shaping the new HIM ecosystem?
- The rise of complex and community-wide health systems like Sutter Health in San Francisco, Partners Health in Boston and UPMC in Pittsburgh.
- Health information is no longer “at rest,” safely tucked away in the archives. Because it is now digitized, health information is in motion and in use, being reused, recombined, redisclosed.
- Patient-centeredness is no long a concept limited to direct patient care, but to all points where patients interact with a health system.
4 keys to transformation
You’re heard the old inspirational saying, “The bend in the road is not the end of the road…unless you fail to make the turn.” Fortunately, the past few years have seen the emergence of new tools and workflows that help you and your colleagues make this turn.
- Request apps help healthcare organizations increase the convenience for patients, accelerate the speed of request processing, and lower the cost for both patient and organization. New technologies empower patients – as well as other authorized requestors – to submit requests from their computer or smart phone.
- Automation allows healthcare organizations to centralize and standard disclosure management processes. The old playbook – where processes across ambulatory, acute care, home care and the ED were fragmented – increased cost and compliance risk.
- Auditing and analytics are now valued as critical to effective and efficient access and disclosure management processes. New tools streamline workflows, quality assurance and reporting so leaders can monitor compliance and performance issues.
- Accountability is a critical component. Work flow technology should help people do the right thing at the right time. And it should produce a record of the work performed for accountability and as a teaching tool to improve the productivity and skill of access and disclosure staff.
Of course, any transformative effort requires more than can be contained in a simple 400-word blog. If you are going to AHIMA next week, look me up for a deeper conversation. I will be at the Verisma booth #403 and will deliver a presentation on this topic at 2:30 p.m. – 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 25.
Jun 19, 2018 | News, Operational Outcomes, Release of Information, Uncategorized
Date: July 11th, 2018 | 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST
Presenters:
Laurie Fiore, RHIA
General Manager CDI/Care Coordination/UR/HIM, NCH Healthcare System
General Manager, Client Revenue Cycle, nThrive
Linda Kloss, MA, RHIA
President, Kloss Strategic Advisors, Inc.
Health systems are facing ever-growing challenges in engaging patients in the management of their health information. Whether a lack of computer literacy with patients or an inefficient medical records request process, these are the type of issues that must be alleviated to better engage patients with their overall health. HIM can play an active role in removing these barriers, by putting in place initiatives within their organizations for advancing patient access.
During this webinar, Laurie Fiore, General Manager CDI/Care Coordination/UR/HIM of NCH Healthcare System and Linda Kloss, President of Kloss Strategic Advisors will showcase how HIM is implementing solutions that streamlines patients’ access to health information and thus improving overall engagement and satisfaction.
Learning goals:
• Discuss the importance of proactive strategies enabling patient access to health information.
• Understand the drivers and goals for NCH Healthcare System’s focus transforming patient access.
• Review the operational challenges and solutions used by NCH Healthcare System to improve access as part of overall release of information.
• Consider how HIM can assist with patients’ access, to help better manage their health information.
Approved for 1 AHIMA CEU Credit: Management Development
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Feb 9, 2017 | Compliance & Regulations, Operational Outcomes, Release of Information
Date: March 8th, 2017, 2:00 pm EST
Presenters: Linda Kloss, MA, RHIA, FAHIMA, Angela Rose, MHA, RHIA, CHPS, FAHIMA and Jim Moore, JD
It has been one year since the HHS Office for Civil Rights issued new guidance on Individuals’ Right under HIPAA to Access their Health Information. Access to information is an important element in empowering patients and removing barriers to access is a worthy goal. The new guidance, however, had the effect of altering the business case for ROI and ushering new challenges in distinguishing whether certain 3rd party requests are in fact on behalf of patients.
HIM, ROI and compliance leaders embraced the value of the new guidance for patients and stepped up to comply. Many have leveraged the goal of access for individuals to bring about needed innovation in ROI practices. This webinar will review the access guidance and the ground rules for compliance. It will also describe the other drivers of change for ROI and best practices from health care organizations that have succeeded at leveraging the new guidance to advance their change goals.
In this webinar, Angela Rose, former Privacy Practice Excellence Director for AHIMA, Linda Kloss, President of Kloss Strategic Advisors and Jim Moore, Chief Legal Officer at Verisma will explore the policy, process, technology and business changes that healthcare organizations are making to comply with the access guidance and advance cost-effective, fully compliant ROI across the enterprise. It will provide participants with an assessment tool that they can use in driving change in their organizations.
Attend the webinar to learn:
- Why HHS stepped up focus on patient access to health information and what the guidance calls for
- The changing business case for ROI
- How leading health systems have leveraged a compliance policy change to introduce innovation
- Elements of ROI innovation for reliable enterprise compliance and cost control
1 AHIMA CEU Credit for Privacy and Security
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Jul 21, 2015 | Blog, Health Information Solutions, Operational Outcomes
The mantra of healthcare is “focus on the patient” and those of us in healthcare and healthcare IT live in a patient-centric world. However, for hospitals and healthcare organizations, the patient isn’t our only customer. In fact, there are many others who fall into that category and require a high level of customer service. This is extremely evident in the departments that interact with those authorized to request and receive copies of patient records.
We have to remember it’s NOT ONLY about the patient…there’s more to consider.
In the Release of Information (ROI) world, our customers are other healthcare providers, attorneys, payers, schools, and law enforcement, just to name a few. It’s the Health Information Management (HIM) department’s responsibility to make sure that ROI requests are met and completed with a high level of satisfaction. Given the variable types of documentation needed, requirements about the level of patient data that can be legally shared, and the sheer number of requests, it’s a challenging and time-consuming process.
So how do we ensure efficient and error-free customer service?
The key is technology-driven ROI workflows. In an age of technology-driven healthcare, so many healthcare providers still rely on manual ROI workflows where requests are touched multiple times during processing and request tracking is done in a log book or on a spreadsheet. This is a recipe for poor customer service based on an inability to quickly and accurately provide information about request status, generate invoices and distribute the requested patient information.
Patients want access to their doctors and hospital staff because the human touch is a cornerstone of patient care. But requestors simply need the information they seek. Think of it like this: Rarely do we call airlines unless there is an issue, we simply book tickets and check flight status online. The same goes for requestors. Technology provides an efficient way to request and retrieve information. And, efficiency goes a long way towards maintaining customer satisfaction.
ROI automation provides benefits to both the healthcare organization and the requestors:
- Requestors can retrieve information they need independently.
- Requestor satisfaction rises because self-sufficiency is built into the ROI process, where it has never been before.
- HIM departments can respond quickly and automatically to requestors.
- Hospitals can quickly distribute information, track data and reduce errors.
- Healthcare organizations can ensure they are complying with strict federal, state and organization regulations.
ROI is one of a handful of touch points your customers have with your healthcare organizations. Let’s strive to make this experience the best it can be. With the right guide in place, the entire universe is within easy reach!
