Group items tagged

Healthcare Rehabilitation is a vast field: The field of healthcare rehabilitation is very vast and expansive. In traditional societies, most commonly relatable to the Orient and Africa, there is the ages-old cultural belief that it is the duty of children to take care of their parents when they age. On the contrary, for us in the west, healthcare rehabilitation has emerged as a specialized branch of healthcare because of the emphasis our society places on independence of the individual. Healthcare rehabilitation is a product of social mores: Younger generations of people are not expected to spend entire years, as may be the case in some families, to look after people of their previous generations who may be in need of medical care. It is on this outlook towards life of our society that healthcare rehabilitation has come into being. However, it is also possible that younger people could also be in need of healthcare rehabilitation. Even such people are put in the care of healthcare providers which offer these services. The divisions of healthcare rehabilitation: Branching out as a fully developed field of healthcare, healthcare rehabilitation has many specializations. These are broadly the areas in which healthcare rehabilitation is offered: General rehabilitation: General rehabilitation of some or another kind is a primary aspect of healthcare rehabilitation. Those in need of this kind of care typically include patients who have lost their ability to carry out day-to-day tasks such as talking, walking, brushing, eating, etc. many a time, depending on the nature of the ailment, rehabilitation could include therapies, exercises and other activities aimed at bringing in some element of mobility in the patient. This kind of healthcare rehabilitation could also include taking care to revive the patient's memory, when patients with diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's are admitted for healthcare rehabilitation. Skilled nursing: An area in which a skilled and

A look at disruptive practitioner behavior policies: One of the very important factors needed for a healthcare unit to maintain its decorum and uphold its reputation is the implementation of disruptive practitioner behavior policies. The declaration and implementation of disruptive practitioner behavior policies goes a long way in ensuring that the hospital or healthcare center doesn't lose face. What are disruptive practitioner behavior policies? First, an understanding of disruptive practitioner behavior policies: Disruptive practitioner behavior policies may be termed as the putting in place in a healthcare providing unit a set of policies that are aimed at checking the errant and rude behavior of its staff members towards the patients and other people that use the services rendered by these centers. Who all carry out disruptive practitioner behaviors? Anyone in the healthcare setting can behave in an unbecoming and ungainly fashion with patients or those attending on them. Some of the typical types associated with disruptive practitioner behavior include shouting at them, bullying, intimidating, scolding loudly, being aggressive towards them, gesturing lewdly to them, and so on. This kind of behavior reflects very badly on the healthcare provider. Since there is intense competition in the healthcare providing industry; it is natural for patients to look for other centers when they face this kind of behavior. It is after all human to expect to be treated nicely. If one provider doesn't do that; patients look for other providers. Losing the patient, bad though it is, is not the only loss: When this becomes public, which is all the easier given the extensive reach of the social media; the healthcare unit's name goes for a toss. The role of disruptive practitioner behavior policies It is to curb this kind of behavior that disruptive practitioner behavior policies need to be put in place. Disruptive practitioner behavior policies can go a long way in reining i

Practical steps to compliance with HIPAA Computer Policy: That the HIPAA has a clear and stringent policy on computers is absolutely understandable, because computers constitute the very soul of HIPAA. Ensuring security of patient data is one of the core causes for which HIPAA was enacted; so, it is only natural that Computer Policy should be at the center of HIPAA compliance. A HIPAA Computer Policy rule came into effect in 2005. The nub of this enactment is to ensure that there are technical, physical and administrative security procedures that must be adhered with. These are meant for Covered Entities to ensure that the data they have of patients, namely electronic Protected Health Information (PHI) is safe and secure. Understand the reason for HIPAA Computer Policy Any implementation has to start with an understanding of the rationale for the action, right? The same goes for something as important and big as implementation of HIPAA compliance into systems. HIPAA Computer Policy is in place for a specific and critical reason ���protection of patient data, loss of which can lead to hefty penalties that can affect the business very adversely. So, installing the necessary protections is the first step to protecting vital data and with it, one's own business or practice, as well. Implement a sound access policy A strong access policy is at the heart of HIPAA Computer Policy. It is in the computer systems that all the data relating to the patient are stored. So, making sure who in the organization has access to these and how and when, is very important. Not only should access be restricted to only designated and permitted personnel in the organization; there should be a system by which tracking of access is easily determined. This is to find out who accessed which record, when, what action followed, what happened as a result of this access, and so on. Keep a record of all system components This is another step to ensuring compliance with HIPAA Computer Po

HIPAA Privacy Myths: HIPAA, the most comprehensive and as of now, the only truly Pan-American federal statute on health information, is unfortunately, still a target of misconceptions and myths. In particular, the Privacy Rule, which is the cornerstone of HIPAA's rule on confidentiality of patient information, offers room for many misconceptions. A few common HIPAA Privacy Myths: HIPAA Privacy Myths regarding communication between the patient and physician A common HIPAA Privacy Myth relates to the communication of mails between the patient and the physician. It is a common misconception that since the Privacy Rule is about ensuring the patient's privacy; it disallows email communication between the doctor and the patient. HIPAA Privacy Rule does allow this form of communication, so that the requisite safeguards are built into the communication aimed at ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of the mails. Transmission of the patient's protected health information Another of the common HIPAA Privacy Myths pertains to the transmission of patient information from one healthcare facility to another. Fact is, no permission is required for Covered Entities to disclose patient information from one clinic to another. The Covered Entity can also share Protected Health Information about the patient for legitimate purposes without the patient's consent or knowledge. Cumbersome and expensive HIPAA Privacy Rule regulations Many people tend to believe that the HIPAA Privacy Rule is a tangled web of regulations that are so complex and painstaking in terms of the administrative detail that implementation of the HIPAA Privacy Rule on a national scale is going to burn a hole in the national exchequer. This is completely untrue. On the contrary, over the years, implementation of the HIPAA Privacy Rule has been bringing down the administrative costs quite significantly, resulting in saving of a few billion dollars in the long run on administrative tasks like transactions

Elements of an efficient Healthcare computer system implementation Healthcare computer system implementation lies at the heart of a healthcare delivery information system. The processing and dissemination of information in extremely quick time is indispensable to healthcare, given the number of processes that go into the healthcare information system, and the improvement in care this can bring about. A healthcare computer system, which can be described as the ecosystem of a healthcare delivery information system, is thus a critical component, because this healthcare computer system implementation is what decides between the efficiency of a healthcare information system and lack of it. A healthcare computer system implementation should cover all the core areas that are part of a healthcare delivery information system, such as the patient, the caregiver, the medical records concerning the patient, the healthcare organization, and other aspects of administration, such as admission, billing and so on. What goes into an efficient healthcare computer system implementation? An efficient healthcare computer system implementation consists of taking into account all the major elements of a healthcare delivery information system. It should have the ability to synchronize, coordinate and integrate vital data from across departments and systems. An efficient healthcare computer system implementation should also take into account the technologies that go into them. Technologies keep changing rapidly. New ones come into being and render the old ones obsolete in no time. A healthcare computer system implementation has to take into account the nature of these changes, and should implement them in quick time. Technologies and technological tools that are doing the rounds today include the cloud, mobile technologies and the social media. So, a healthcare computer system implementation has to integrate these. In the particular context of the American healthcare system, healthca

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was legislated in 1996 with the primary aim of ensuring that employees who are in the process of changing or leaving their jobs do not lose their health insurance benefits. Additionally, HIPAA sought to bring down health care fraud and abuse by mandating pan-industry standards for the protection of health care information and automated billing and other related processes, and for ensuring the security of Protected Health Information (PHI). What is a HIPAA Security Audit? A HIPAA Security Audit is a program under the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Audit Program of the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). A HIPAA Security Audit is carried out to make sure that the policies, processes and controls on the part of Covered Entities comply with the provisions of the HITECH Act of 2009. Adherence to the requirements laid out by HITECH is mandatory. Given the high degree of continued use of new technologies that go into and will continue to go into electronic records of patients and the criticality of the data contained in them; the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recognizes that there could be chances of data breach of Protected Health Information. It is to prevent the occurrence of these breaches that a HIPAA Security Audit is mandated by the HITECH Act. Reporting of data breaches is mandatory The foremost highlight of the HITECH Act is the requirement that Entities covered by HIPAA report data breaches that affect 500 or more employees to the HHS. The OCR lays out an Audit Protocol, with whose policies, protocols and processes a facility has to comply if it is said to be compliant with the HIPAA Security Audit. Why is it necessary to carry out a HIPAA/HITECH Security Audit? Compliance with HIPAA Security Audit is necessary to demonstrate that a practice or business is well protected. The most important reason for which such entities need to be HIPAA/HITECH Security

With more than a 100,000 practitioners in this discipline; medical coding is catching up as a viable profession for many in the US and away. Medical coding is emerging as a completely specialized profession in the healthcare sector. This is how the core of their professional work needs to be understood: Uses of medical coding On the face of it, medical coding is used for filing healthcare claims, but the usefulness of this profession goes beyond this. The data churned out by medical coding helps healthcare professionals make more accurate diagnosis and help in enhanced treatment protocols. Ensuring accuracy in medical coding is crucial to administering proper healthcare. Medical coding not only ensures a systematic and standardized manner in which third parties claim payment; the critical data that medical coding generates can be harnessed for further use The information contained in medical coding data in the form of medical codes is a precise indicator of a patient's health history. This information, when refined, helps actuaries take decisions on making investments for their business By feeding policy makers and public health departments with important information on the incidence of diseases, medical coding also fosters proper allocation of resources to the particular segment of the healthcare industry about the kind of services that the community requires at a given point of time. This leads to an improved outlook for the general health of the patient population and reduces wastage of fund allocation. Learn more on this topic by visiting : http://bit.ly/23ajt0v

Incidental disclosures form the crux of HIPAA compliance and patient care. HIPAA has elaborate rules on how to maintain these and in what situations. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a landmark set of federal regulations, is aimed at protecting patient privacy regulations. Yet, it is understood that some information has to necessarily be shared. HIPAA compliance and patient care is centered on the inevitable disclosures that have to be made, or what are called incidental disclosures. Initially, there was some ambiguity about incidental disclosures, resulting in some kind of haziness about HIPAA compliance and patient care. With these cleared, much of HIPAA compliance and patient care hinges on this principle. Incidental disclosures determine patient care compliance with HIPAA Incidental disclosures are what are termed secondary use, i.e., it is the unavoidable or inevitable disclosure of Protected Health Information. It is understood that incidental disclosures, being a byproduct of the course or nature of the treatment; are inescapable, given the condition and situation of the patient. Guiding factors for HIPAA compliance with patient care The aim of HIPAA's Privacy Rule is to ensure that healthcare providers have to use professional judgment guided by ethical guidelines at the time of making incidental disclosures. The following bases were propounded for adherence with HIPAA compliance and patient care: Whenever there is an unavoidable breach in confidentiality, the breach should be proportionate to the potential benefit the patient's gets from care When a patient is not present in the healthcare setting or is incapacitated, information about the patient can be shared with the family, friends or whoever else is involved in the patient's care. This protocol need not be documented. In relation to the above, a requirement of HIPAA compliance for patient care is that when the patient has a condition that is not related to the present tr

HIPAA Enforcement trends : Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a legislation of the American Congress. HIPAA enforcement consists of taking steps to confirm that rules set out in HIPAA are being complied with by the requisite entities. Primarily passed with the intention of ensuring that employees do not lose their health insurance benefits when they change or leave their current jobs; this 1996 law also has the protection and security of Protected Health Information (PHI) as one of its chief aims. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which enforces actions relating to HIPAA, imposes harsh penalties on healthcare organizations and Business Associates and Covered Entities that are proven to be in noncompliance of HIPAA requirements. What are HIPAA enforcement actions? The actions that the OCR takes to ensure implementation of HIPAA provisions constitute the essence of HIPAA enforcement actions. There are a good number of areas which the OCR can cite as constituting cases of HIPAA violations or noncompliance. A look at recent HIPAA enforcement actions point to a trend. These trends serve as an indicator of what to expect from HIPAA enforcement actions, which will help entities get some idea of what they should implement and what they should not and thus prevent being cited by the OCR. Security risk assessments are the foremost element of HIPAA enforcement actions: A look at recent trends suggests that HIPAA enforcement actions mainly target security risk assessments. This leads to harsh penalties, as happened in the case of New York-Presbyterian Hospital (NYP). The hefty $ 4.8 million penalty slapped in 2014 on this hospital was for data breach caused by insufficient security risk assessment. While this is the biggest sum fined; the OCR issued at least three other hospitals for putting in place inadequate security risk assessments in 2014. Risk management comes a close second: If inadequate security risk assessments come first in te

Healthcare fraud and abuse: Healthcare fraud and abuse are different but related kinds of malpractice. They affect everyone concerned: the patient, the healthcare unit, the healthcare sector, and eventually, the economy. Healthcare fraud and abuse are serious malpractices that can have very grave consequences for the patient, the hospital and the healthcare sector. They can also cost taxpayers heavy amounts of money. Healthcare fraud: There is some distinction between healthcare fraud and healthcare abuse. Healthcare fraud is said to happen, according to medicare.gov, when Medicare gets billed for a service or supply the end user never gets. These fraudulent claims result in loss of billions of dollars of revenue to Medicare each year. Healthcare fraud could be said to happen when: False statements are submitted knowingly or facts are misrepresented with the purpose of obtaining a federal health care payment for claims for which the person is not entitled A person knowingly solicits, pays, or/and accepts a payment with the intention of inducing or rewarding referrals for services or items that any of the federal healthcare programs reimburse Eligibility is falsified Prohibited referrals are made for select, designated health services Healthcare abuse: Although related, healthcare fraud and abuse are not totally similar to each other in spirit. A healthcare abuse can be when physicians do not comply with or bypass established good medical practices or administer treatments that are not necessary. This is less serious than fraud in terms of intent, but carries the same consequences: loss of billions of dollars to the exchequer and potential damage the patient's health and the physician's and/or healthcare provider's reputation. Some examples of healthcare abuse These are some of the examples of healthcare abuse: When services that are not medically warranted are performed and charged for When services and/or supplies are charged in excess of their actual value

HIPAA Survival Guide: The HIPAA Survival Guide is a set of practical help guides that seek to make compliance with HIPAA and HITECH easy for providers. This kit is some kind of checklist on what to keep in mind and implement to survive a HIPAA audit. The HIPAA Survival Guide was created as a need to comply with the HIPAA audit requirements. It evolved as a response to simplifying the HIPAA Privacy Rule and HIPAA Security Rule without its legal complexity. In other words, the framers of this Guide have developed this concept strictly as a guide, rather than as a legally enforceable set of rules. "Forest from the trees" approach: The HIPAA Survival Guide came into being in order to help users understand HIPAA and HITECH better. The approach the developers of this Guide adapted was what was called the "forest from the trees" way, because the aim was to help users navigate and wade through the complex text. It was aimed at helping them chaff and finesse the parts that required their compliance into simple terms. HIPAA Survival Guide is thus not a strict, legislative Act that lays down rules for conformity. No wonder, it was developed by the joint efforts of a Registered Nurse and an Attorney, who wanted to facilitate a greater understanding of the legislation's audit requirements. The basis on which this Guide came into existence was the HIPAA and HITECH background. It concerns itself with only the part of HIPAA and HITECH relating to a part of Covered Entities, namely providers. This is deliberate, since the aim of this Guide is to help small providers with guidelines aimed at simplifying their task. Important steps for HIPAA survival: The fundamental goal of the HIPAA Survival Guide is to equip providers with the knowledge of what needs to be kept in order and fine-tuned if they have to meet regulatory requirements. These are the thumb rules for the HIPAA Survival Guide: Documenting the provider's privacy, security and breach policies and revie

Hospital Management : The growth and development of hospitals has led to an altogether specialized discipline -hospital management. Hospital management is about coordinating the various functions of a hospital and ensuring optimal healthcare to patients and other stakeholders. Hospital Management has come a long way from being a supplementary duty that senior doctors handled with ease, to being a full-fledged specialization in itself. Hospital management is an altogether fully developed specialist profession whose managers are well qualified. Many institutions today offer courses on hospital management. The relationship of hospital management to the area of management rather than to the medical field can be understood from the fact that many hospital managers are from a purely management background, and have little knowledge of medical science. Many hospital management institutions offer an MBA. They also offer courses on specialized subunits of hospital management, such as hospital financial management, healthcare system management, hospital human resources management, etc. This is because hospitals have evolved over time. They are now ultra-specialist healthcare providers that use the latest technologies. A hospital could use anything from billing software to highly sophisticated technology used in its medical devices. A hospital management specialist needs to be not only aware of these uses; she also needs to be/have all these: A good administrator who handles staff; A deep knowledge of the information systems; A good grip on all the systems that need to be coordinated thoroughly if the hospital needs to function smoothly without any hassles; Dealing with facilities for patients. Hospital Management can thus be understood as being the facilitator between a healthcare setting and those who need these services. It is about ensuring that all the administrative elements of a healthcare setting function in unison to ensure provision of accountable healthcare.

Patient quality and safety in healthcare: Patient quality and safety are core aspects of healthcare. They need to be administered and assessed in the backdrop of a variety of factors. Many healthcare professionals see patient quality and safety in healthcare as being part of the broad canopy of healthcare. There is some disagreement and confusion as to the exact meaning of the terms patient quality and safety, but that is only when it comes to semantics. In broad terms, one can understand patient quality and safety in healthcare as efforts and steps and processes meant to improve the quality care given to patients. Patient quality and safety in healthcare relates chiefly to: Improving the safety of patients and augmenting the quality of health care in the various areas of health Bringing about a reduction in infections that are sometimes a byproduct of provision of health care Reduction in the incidence of adverse drug events Quality healthcare, of which patient quality and safety in healthcare are an integral part, is defined as "…doing the right thing, at the right time, for the right person, and having the best possible result" by The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The AHRQ also describes patient safety as "the act of doing no harm", and which "…underlies all aspects of quality health care." Measuring patient quality and safety: Measuring patient quality and safety in healthcare is of utmost importance because no system or practice is meaningful unless it is capable of being measured. The level and success of patient quality and safety in healthcare is measured against the following parameters: How many patients who underwent surgery experienced infections? How many patients were required to be admitted for a second or subsequent time following discharge from hospital because of complications such as infections or recurrence of the problems for which the patient was admitted? To what extent did the healthcare

Construction Safety Orientation Construction Safety Orientation is part of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)'s safety initiatives for those employed in the construction industry. Construction Safety Orientation is offered to employers and employees in the construction industry by OSHA or its authorized trainers. Construction Safety Orientation is offered as either a 10-hour or 30-hour course to employees by OSHA-authorized trainers. The aim of the Construction Safety Orientation training is provide training to employees and employers in this industry to help them recognize, abate, avoid, and prevent injuries in the workplace. In addition, Construction Safety Orientation also involves providing training to the employees and employers about their rights and duties at the workplace. s Outreach Training Program is voluntary There are two reasons for OSHA recommends Construction Safety Orientation: OSHA's Outreach Training Program is voluntary; OSHA's Outreach Training Program, being basic, does not provide the full training requirements that the employer has to meet under set OSHA standards. Because of this reason, OSHA's Outreach Training Program is not considered a certification. The need for Construction Safety Orientation The sheer size of the American construction industry is the best reason for the need for Construction Safety Orientation: A little over two percent of the entire American population - something like 6.5 million people are engaged in the construction industry at more than a quarter of a million construction sites across the nation. This perhaps gives some perspective of the magnitude of the tendency for injuries and deaths in this industry. In fact, it is known that construction accounts for the highest rate of fatal injuries among all industries in the US. In a construction workplace, workers could be prone to almost any kind of injury or hazard. According to osha.gov, the most common reasons include: Falls (from heights);

The Physician Payment Sunshine Act: The Physician Payment Sunshine Act, also called Physician Payments Act, is a piece of legislation passed by the American Congress in 2010. It came to be enacted along with the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. The purpose of this legislation is to ensure transparency in the financial relationships that exist between the pharmaceutical industry, teaching hospitals, and physicians. What the Sunshine Act requires is this: Manufacturers of drugs and medical devices, and organizations that purchase in groups (Group Purchasing Organizations or PGO's) have to report payments or their equivalent that they make to physicians and teaching hospitals. Items that are considered equivalent to money payments, transfers of which have to be reported are clearly mentioned. These include the following: Meals Honoraria or grants Gifts Entertainment Speaking fees Writing services, such as research papers or manuscripts Travel reimbursements Purchase of items such as teaching materials and journals, which are paid either directly to physicians or teaching hospitals, supplied either directly or through a third party Funding for research Another core reporting requirement: Another requirement of the Sunshine Act is that when manufacturers of drugs and medical devices and group purchasing organizations have physicians who have a stake in some or another form in their organizations; this has to be reported to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). These reporting requirements apply to all kinds of physicians, who are either specialists or are general practitioners. However, the following are excluded from reporting by the Sunshine Act: Nurses Support and office staff Residents Medical students Physicians assistance Advance practice nurses Physicians need not report: The Sunshine Act requires information about these payments and transfers to be made by the paying medical device and drug companies, and not by physicians.

Ensuring Patient Safety in Surgical Environments is Critical for Healthcare Providers A critical component of patient safety relates to surgical environments. Surgical theaters are prone to causing a high degree of harm. This can be from a number of sources. Patient safety in surgical environments can be from any microbe or fungus in any of the accessories used during surgery, such as ECG machine, the echo machine, or other related ones. A host of external factors can impinge upon patient safety in surgical environments Patient safety in surgical environments can also be compromised on account of the use of infected items such as swabs, sponges, knives, forceps, needles, catheters, tubes or any other such accessories or instruments. Patient safety in surgical environments can also get affected by the presence of microscopic allergens and molds in any bedding or clothing item. Even germs transmitted from the caregivers can be a source of lack of patient safety in surgical environments. Another major source where patient safety in surgical environments can suffer is when items are left behind in patients��� bodies by the surgeon. There have been innumerable cases of entire surgical items being left behind in the patient, even in the best hospitals, when surgery is performed by the best surgeons. Get a proper understanding of the underlying causes What do all these point to? These point to the fact that all the factors mentioned above are manmade and are preventable. So, understanding the root of the problem is the key to ensuring patient safety in surgical environments. East and west carry differences Any approach to a solution for ensuring patient safety in surgical environments has to start with the understanding that different healthcare and surgical environments exist in different parts of the world. A surgical environment in Germany for instance is vastly different from that in say, Ghana. So, an individualized approach is what is needed. It is to be note

Basics of the Anti-Kickback Statute : The Anti-Kickback Statute is aimed at curbing abuse and fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid systems by professionals who offer services and benefit in direct or indirect ways. In order to protect Medicare and Medicaid patients, as well as federal health care programs from abuse and fraud; the Anti-Kickback Statute was enacted. The core act that the Anti-Kickback Statute considered as fraud and abuse is the unlawful acceptance or diversion of money into influencing medical decision-making. The Anti-Kickback Statute is very clear on this. It states that anyone in the healthcare industry, who consciously and deliberately accepts a fee or remuneration of any kind or offers the same with the intention of manipulating the course of a medical decision-making, is liable to punishment. What acts attract penalties? Acts of various kinds attract penalties under the Anti-Kickback Statute. Some of these include: Carrying out advertising or marketing activities for promoting the brand of health care providers Participating in affiliate programs or pay per click commissions Working out promotion agreements with multiple companies Taking part in sponsorships Working out strategic alliances with healthcare providers Licensing content or technology Selling a healthcare provider's brands of products or services Taking a cut in the advertising revenue The nature of penalties under the Anti-Kickback Statute The Anti-Kickback Statute states major penalties for acts it prohibits. The Anti-Kickback Statute prescribes these major penalties: Up to five years in prison This has the potential to attract additional monetary fines of up to $25,000 Administrative civil money penalties that can go up to $50,000 In addition, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) could initiate administrative proceedings and take steps aimed at prohibiting anyone convicted of an Anti-Kickback violation from participating in State and federal programs. The OIG could also impose

A Hospital Incident Command System is a wonderfully effective system for handing disasters and emergency situations: A Hospital Incident Command System is an absolute must for hospitals when they have to carry out unforeseen emergencies. Having a process-oriented Hospital Incident Command System is an effective tool for dealing with situations and saving lives. A Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) is a standardized process that helps hospitals deal with emergencies, natural or manmade. HICS is common across hospitals in the US and have common terminology and organizational structure. It is a single system that all hospitals have to use. Since emergencies can happen at any time and can be of any gravity; it is imperative for physicians to have a command of how to deal with emergencies by understanding the Hospital Incident Command System and its role in disaster situations. HICS goes beyond patient care. Physicians and other staff need to both have access to disaster-specific and related information to the Hospital Incident Command System, as well as know how to handle it, in order to bring about an effective response and augment an existing one. Advantage of having a Hospital Incident Command System The biggest advantage of having a Hospital Incident Command System is that its practices and processes are similar to those used by external agencies in times of emergency. This makes sharing incident command systems that much more effective and easier to coordinate, and facilitates information flow. Features of a Hospital Incident Command System A Hospital Incident Command System provides a flexible reporting structure with defined roles and responsibilities It sets up and facilitates communication flow and documentation protocol It provides the hospital operations a concrete strategic direction-oriented support by leveraging and optimizing additional resources such as staff and equipment, so that these are used where they are needed the most. A Hospital Incident

Dealing with Medicare and Medicaid Overpayments : Medicare and Medicaid overpayments are pretty common. If they are not dealt with properly, they invite penalties. Medicare and Medicaid Overpayments happen when a person, provider or supplier receives a payment that is in excess of the amount due to him or her under Medicare statutes and regulations. This overpayment becomes a federal debt that is owed by the individual to the State. So, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is required by federal law to recover this amount. Overpayments routinely occur in Medicare and Medicaid. Many a time, these are unintended and are usually a result of oversight, but could also happen due to intent. Some of the most common reasons for which Medicare and Medicaid overpayments occur can be when: Duplicate submissions of the same service or claim are made Excessive or non-covered services are billed or furnished for billing Services that are not necessary medically or are excluded are paid for The wrong payee gets paid. How are Medicare and Medicaid overpayments processed? Obamacare has amended the federal False Claims Act (FCA), which is part of the Fraud Enforcement Recovery Act of 2009 (FERA), to add provisions relating to recovery of Medicare and Medicaid overpayments. This is how the process of Medicare and Medicaid overpayments works: Whenever Medicare comes to know that any overpayment of $10 (raised to $25 from July 2014) or more is made, it directs the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) to initiate the process of recovery of this overpayment. The MAC starts the process by initially mailing a demand letter in which repayment is requested If no action is taken, a second and third demand letters are mailed in a month following the first one. Contents of a demand mail from Medicare/Medicaid: The demand letter sent by the MAC will explain the details of the Medicare and/or overpayment. When repayment is not made in full within 30 days, interest starts get

Medical Informatics is a story of phenomenal growth: Medical informatics is an area that is growing at a fervid pace. Its growth is not likely to get hindered or slow down in the near future, due to the surge in its use in the healthcare and IT industries. Medical Informatics is a relatively recent development in the field of healthcare. It is interwoven into the development and application of IT-based innovations in the healthcare industry. Medical informatics is often synonymously and loosely used with other related words such as clinical informatics, nursing informatics, healthcare informatics and so on. Its associations with related or similar disciplines notwithstanding, one can draw a fairly clear idea of medical informatics. It can be described as the application, adoption, design and development of IT into activities relating to the healthcare industry. What is the objective of medical informatics? Medical informatics seeks to enhance knowledge and innovate in the healthcare field by using IT and its applications. Towards this end, it uses and merges the principles, knowledge, data, application, and the tools needed for applying these in the process of decision-making. Who are involved in the use of medical informatics? Medical informatics is used by almost everyone in the healthcare industry. These include physicians, nurses, billers, coders, many others who provide healthcare, and medical librarians. In addition, there are specialists who are tasked purely with working with medical informatics, such as Data analysts Hospital record managers, and Programmers and analysts in the industry. The rise and rise of medical informatics The birth and growth of medical informatics has been tied to those of the IT industry, the Internet in particular. In a sense, they are twins, having started and grown in almost a conjoined fashion. Its early development started in the 1960s, very nearly contemporaneous with that of the Net. While the medium that brought