The most critical function of the medical record’s multiple purposes is to plan and provide continuity of care for a patient’s medical treatment. However, in many instances, we as healthcare providers forget that the medical record offers additional provisions including the following: information for financial reimbursement to hospitals, healthcare providers, skilled nursing facilities, and patients; […]

I have the good fortune to work with wound care departments and providers all over the US. When I meet with these departments, I am working with them to understand their Clinical, Operational, Regulatory, and Economic/financial (CORE) processes,  which is imperative for compliance with hospital or facility standards. Once the collective process is understood, the […]

There are many important reasons for auditing documentation, including determining its accuracy, assessing the completeness of a medical record, and discovering lost revenues. When auditing a medical record, the documentation is examined to determine whether it adequately substantiates the services billed and identifies medical necessity for the services rendered. If this process is not conducted […]

While you are fully focused on managing your Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) documentation for your 2019 reporting, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has updated a number of important resource documents within the full resource library at the Quality Payment Program website. One of these resources is the MIPS Promoting Interoperability Prevention of […]

Proper workflows are at the heart of a successful wound care business. Whether you are in the outpatient wound care setting or working as a traveling physician, designing clinical and operational workflows requires close review and customization of current clinical and documentation practices for an efficient outcome. Current practices include the operational processes for registration, […]

Performing a comprehensive patient assessment is an essential first step toward healing a chronic skin condition or wound. After the clinician has assessed the patient, identified any underlying conditions affecting healing, performed a complete assessment of the patient’s nutrition status, performed the proper tests to provide an accurate diagnosis of the underlying problem, assessed the […]

After taking the time to diligently document and report your Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) measures and activities, it is important to review your Performance Feedback Report detailing the category scores for your MIPS data submission. The scores provide you with payment adjustment information (excluding voluntary submitters) and details about measures and activities. Clinicians participating […]

In the February 2019 Practice Points column, Merit-based Incentive Payment System 2019 Changes, we reviewed the final changes to the 2019 Quality Payment Program Final Rule1 under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). In this column, we will focus on the Promoting […]

Wound healing is a complex process that uses specific cellular and biochemical actions to achieve wound closure. These processes (homeostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and maturation) occur over defined periods of time. They are often taken for granted as the wound innately granulates, contracts, and epithelializes under optimal conditions. A wound begs the clinician’s attention when the […]

The most critical step to a successful specialty electronic health record (EHR) implementation is conducting workflow analysis. In addition, smart workflow synchronization with your specialty EHR is key to driving compliance within your wound care department. Hear from Cathy Thomas Hess, BSN, RN, CWCN, as she details the importance and benefits of workflow analysis and design for […]