Years ago, OIG issued guidelines for physician practice compliance but in spite of that many practices have failed to imply a proactive and efficient system to implement it and stay compliant. But if this step is incorporated at a time when rules and guidelines are changing, there is immense scope of scrutiny and reducing staff, the practice will be immensely benefitted.
On the other hand, practices must keep with the present guidelines to impart high quality patient care, profit, and overcome audits. Receiving adequate training and being aware of all the developments can help to follow federal guidelines and steer clear of auditors and costly fines. This can be achieved by adhering to some basic recommendations for areas like:
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are responsible to promote IT related to health. In fact, the HITECH act has assigned huge sums of money for meaningful use of HER systems. Additionally, HITECH also has modified HIPAA to take critical care of privacy and security of patient information. Although physicians wait to benefit from the new guidelines, they need to be prepared to implement and comply with all the changes related to HIPAA or face penalties. Practices that feel that it is not important to incorporate the meaningful use program need to meet all the factors by 2014 or face severe penalties at the beginning of the year 2015. HIPAA privacy and security compliance will be under close scrutiny and practices need to be aware of it. So physicians cannot afford to take HIPAA compliance lightly. They must implement fool-proof protocols to steer clear of audits and denials.
The ultimate responsibility lies with the physician for all the actions performed by the staff members. If a charge cannot be validated by a practice, it should not be billed. With stringent compliance measures, physicians hold great liability and are under immense pressure to take up issues that will be a result of incorrect coding. In order to tackle this situation, a proactive approach is required along with correct documentation that will save time and revenue.
If you are looking for online coding updates, AudioEducator is the place where you can choose a wide range of medical coding conferences on physician practice compliance and Medical Compliance Conferences to prepare for the year ahead.
On the other hand, practices must keep with the present guidelines to impart high quality patient care, profit, and overcome audits. Receiving adequate training and being aware of all the developments can help to follow federal guidelines and steer clear of auditors and costly fines. This can be achieved by adhering to some basic recommendations for areas like:
- Privacy, meaningful use and security
- Clinical code and coding
- High quality data reporting
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are responsible to promote IT related to health. In fact, the HITECH act has assigned huge sums of money for meaningful use of HER systems. Additionally, HITECH also has modified HIPAA to take critical care of privacy and security of patient information. Although physicians wait to benefit from the new guidelines, they need to be prepared to implement and comply with all the changes related to HIPAA or face penalties. Practices that feel that it is not important to incorporate the meaningful use program need to meet all the factors by 2014 or face severe penalties at the beginning of the year 2015. HIPAA privacy and security compliance will be under close scrutiny and practices need to be aware of it. So physicians cannot afford to take HIPAA compliance lightly. They must implement fool-proof protocols to steer clear of audits and denials.
The ultimate responsibility lies with the physician for all the actions performed by the staff members. If a charge cannot be validated by a practice, it should not be billed. With stringent compliance measures, physicians hold great liability and are under immense pressure to take up issues that will be a result of incorrect coding. In order to tackle this situation, a proactive approach is required along with correct documentation that will save time and revenue.
If you are looking for online coding updates, AudioEducator is the place where you can choose a wide range of medical coding conferences on physician practice compliance and Medical Compliance Conferences to prepare for the year ahead.
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