Oct 17, 2019 | Blog, Compliance & Regulations, Health Information Solutions, Release of Information, Uncategorized
By Linda Kloss
It’s a typical weekday for me
working from home and stopping to get a few things cleared off my “to do” list. It’s 2:30 in the afternoon and I have already
used 10 apps: I read my digital
newspapers, did online banking, scheduled service on the car, ordered dog food,
scheduled an annual dermatology appointment, booked a flight, hotel, and
airport transportation, figured out a route from the airport to my hotel, and downloaded
a book for next month’s book club. You
get it; this is now a typical day for most connected consumers. Not long ago, we would have driven to the
bank, dog food store, bookstore or library, called the travel agent, auto
mechanic, and so on. Apps have transformed
how we get things done.
Now, many consumers use an app to
access their medical records, downloading to a mobile device for their own use
and to share as they see fit with providers, other caregivers and family. Release of information, long a back office
processing function, is becoming an app-enabled, consumer-driven service. This transformation is largely driven by
consumers. When so many parts of our
life are supported by apps, consumers are not satisfied with having to contact
various hospitals and provider offices, complete forms, wait for paper or CD
and pay a fee to gain access to their own information.
Federal emphasis on interoperable
EHRs brought the issue of barriers to access to information for patients to the
forefront. Fees were identified as a
barrier, and in 2016 the Office for Civil Rights addressed this with its patient access
guidance. The Office of the National
Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) extended the focus on patient access by
including functionality in its EHR certification criteria, directly supporting
standards-based application programming Interfaces (APIs) and apps, and
promoting access through public education.
Patient access is one of six key planks in implementation of the 21st
Century Cures Act designed to unlock the power of digital health
information.
Consumer demand, supported by federal policy will
transform release of information to an app-enabled function and I believe that
this will happen very quickly. I base
this prediction on the experiences of health systems that enable web access for
patients and authorized third parties.
Adoption and update has been swift and overwhelmingly positive.
You can learn from NewYork-Presbyterian’s Susan
Tabickman about this world renowned health system’s use of Verisma’s API-based
app for release of information in a free webinar on October 30! Registration information follows.
There are inherent privacy and security risks for apps
involving confidential patient data.
Access and disclosure of patient information also requires hardened
compliance protocols. Trusted release of
information app developers must meet a high bar; a developer must have the requisite technical
and standards know how, but must also have compliance, data protection, and
accuracy in its DNA.
Against this background, CIOs and
HIM professionals should proactively advance access transformation on four
fronts:
1.
Transition from fragmented to standardized and centralized disclosure
management across the health system.
This requires adoption of enterprise release of information management
software and best practices.
2. Add
an app linking EHR and the enterprise release of information software so
information can be requested and disclosed via web portal.
3.
Design and implement policies and processes to protect the consumers’
right of access with appropriate privacy and security protections for an
app-enabled patient access environment.
4.
Develop an implementation plan that includes consumer and staff outreach
and education.
I can’t yet access my EHR via app, but when I can, you
can be sure I will keep my medical record securely on my password protected
phone. The days of taking notes,
requesting and storing paper reports, and trying to recall when I last did this
or that will be over. The timing is
right and It just makes sense.
Use this link to register for the free webinar on October 30 at 2-3 pm EDT: https://bit.ly/2peAwoK
Oct 11, 2019 | Compliance & Regulations, News, Release of Information
Date: Oct 30th, 2019 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST
Presenters:
Susan Tabickman, RHIA
HIM Manager, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
Anupriyo Chakravarti
CIO & SVP, R&D, Verisma Systems, Inc.
Linda Kloss, MA, RHIA
Regulatory Policy Leader, Disclosure Management, Verisma Systems, Inc.
Last year the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) announced rules in support of patient access to their health information using standards-based application programming interface technology (APIs). APIs enable computers to talk to each other and it is the vision of ONC to enable people to access and direct their health information using API-based apps.
In this webinar, participants will learn from the firsthand experience of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital how the Verisma Request App (VRA) is transforming release of health information (ROI) at NYC’s #1 hospital. NewYork-Presbyterian is proactively advancing the right of the patient to get their electronic health information — and they are using VRA as the application to do so. This webinar will also highlight essential technical and functionality app requirements that HIM, CIO and Compliance managers should assess when considering use of mobile tools.
Webinar objectives:
- Understand the federal policy environment concerning apps and health information access
- Learn from health system experiences using apps to enable release of information while improving customer satisfaction;
- Review a technology, standards, privacy and security checklist for sound release of information apps.
Approved for 1 AHIMA CEU Credit for Management Development
VIEW RECORDING
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.
Dec 20, 2018 | Compliance & Regulations, News, Release of Information, Uncategorized
Date: Jan 16th, 2019 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST
Presenters:
Lyndsey Kane, RN-BSN
Project Manager, Northwell Health Physician Partners
Anupriyo Chakravarti
SVP, R&D, Verisma Systems, Inc.
This webinar will focus on key compliance and business drivers for standardizing release of information practices and procedures across physician practices that are part of an ambulatory or integrated health delivery system. Health systems often begin by ensuring consistency and efficiency of information disclosure management across their acute care facilities. But the job is not done until health information is released in a standard way across all levels of care.
During this presentation, Lyndsey Kane, RN-BSN, Project Manager at Northwell Health Physician Partners and Anupriyo Chakravarti, SVP, R&D at Verisma Systems, Inc. will explore how the ambulatory HIM department is centralizing ROI processes and implementing disclosure management solutions to automate workflows, ensuring accounting for all disclosures while improving overall compliance and efficiency.
Geared towards managers of medical practices, HIM, privacy and release of information teams and compliance managers, this webinar will address the following learning goals:
- Review current regulations and guidance on patient access and release of information
- The case for automating compliance and disclosure management in medical practices
- Review the challenges and solutions used by Northwell to improve ROI automation and compliance
- Discuss the benefits and rationale for centralizing ROI across ambulatory practices, and the processes needed to move towards technology-supported standardization
Approved for 1 AHIMA CEU Credit: Privacy & Security
REGISTER NOW
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
REGISTER NOW
