COVID-19 has struck with stunning ferocity causing uncertainty across the healthcare landscape. Beyond patient care and staff safety demands, the crisis has evoked unprecedented health information challenges to medical coding and billing and clinical documentation integrity (CDI). Intellis’ immediate action continues to set the pace by providing three avenues for information and education from trusted healthcare sources and Intellis subject matter experts (SME). To date, nearly 1000 medical coders, HIM leaders, and CDI specialists along with 18 health organizations have benefited from Intellis’ commitment to sharing FREE COVID-19 educational resources.
One Site for Information
As the HIM industry grapples to respond and provide clear direction, ambiguity reverberated as national health organizations release evolving updates. Intellis CEO David Van Doren said, “At the outset, we recognized the huge impact of COVID-19 on health information management (HIM). With our distributed workforce, we were instantly positioned to assist providers. Further, we created our IQ Crisis Team to consolidate and share HIM information.” On the Intellis website (IntellisIQ.com), the team developed a single source where HIM professionals can obtain current COVID-19 directives and latest news from AHIMA, AMA, CDC, and CMS (intellisIQ.com/COVID-19). Each day, the website is updated as information becomes available. Also, Intellis prepared — and continually updates — Coding Tipsheets and FAQs. The Intellis IQ COVID-19 page has been visited nearly 2,500 times and the Tipsheets referenced over 1,700 times.
One Source for Online Training
To assist in disseminating timely HIM information, Intellis opened the IQ Center, the company’s education portal, to offer several FREE courses to ALL industry professionals. Intellis’ industry-recognized SMEs VP Education & Training Kim Felix, RHIA, CCS, VP of Clinical and Quality Services Allison Van Doren, RN BSN CCDS CDIP CRC, and Director of Education Jeanie Heck, BBA, CCS, CPC, CRC present coding- and CDI-related updates based on AHIMA and CMS information (education.intellisIQ.com).
One Team for COVID-19 Education
As the health crisis evolves, Intellis experts presented COVID-19 coding and CDI webinars based on AHIMA and CMS information to 18 health organizations. The one-hour sessions focused on ICD-10-CM, MS-DRG, and IP CDI updates for inpatient settings, and ICD-10-CM, CPT/HCPCS/Telemedicine, and OP CDI updates for outpatient settings. Each presentation was followed by a Q&A session. CoxHealth IP Coding Supervisor, Health Information Management Dianne Pierce, RHIT, said, “I would like to thank the Intellis educators for providing thorough, updated coding and clinical advice concerning the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. We had all of our IP and OP auditors and CDI Leadership attend at least one session and have included information we received in our policy which our coders are currently using.” Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Director of Coding and Validation Susan B. Cohen, RHIA CDIP CCS, wrote, “Thank you so much for offering these webinars. They are so well done, and the staff really appreciate learning. Keep them coming!”
As the crisis continues, Intellis is committed to education sharing and contributing to the HIM knowledge-base. The COVID-19 online resource page, IQ Center courses, and webinars will continue to be updated as information evolves. Dates and times for updated webinars will be announced soon. Please contact info@intellisIQ.com for additional information.
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About Intellis
At Intellis, our team shares a deep-rooted passion for innovation, education, and a drive to solve complex HIM challenges. With experience, best practices, and agility, we combine advisory services with flexible end-to-end solutions to address revenue cycle management and data quality issues. Our expertise improves outcomes for both providers and patients. The Intellis IQ Suite includes revenue cycle management, health information management, clinical documentation integrity (CDI), health information technology, and education and training solutions. For more information, visit www.intellisiq.com.
Media Contact:
Cassidy Communications, Inc. for Intellis
Kelly C. Vanek: 610.217.5011
kvanek@cassidycommunications.com
Our COVID-19 resources and information page is here to keep you updated on the evolving pandemic. It includes information from public health organizations, HIM organizations, and our subject matter experts intended to share HIM best practices. For education presentations and resources regarding COVID-19, please visit the Intellis IQ Center, our HIM education portal.
HCC Power HourThe Intellis IQ team of experts is ready to join your staff for an information-packed Power Hour. We dive deep into the subject matter and offer concise informational programs and presentations on a variety of timely topics tailored to select audiences and desired results.
The Intellis IQ HCC Power Hour is a comprehensive session taught by experienced presenters to address Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCC). The purpose of HCC is to enable better health management along with accurate reimbursement. To achieve the goals, coding specialists need to stay up-to-date and informed on HCC best practices. Intellis offers expert instruction with qualified presenters:
Kim Felix RHIA, CCS — Vice President of Education
Jeanie Heck BBA, CCS, CPC, CRC — Director of Education.
For more information or to schedule a “POWER HOUR” for your team, please contact Intellis President Dan Cooke.
Intellis IQ: “CDI: The Pros and Cons of Working Remotely”For our Intellis IQ podcast, CDI Specialist Paige Lowe RN, BSN, CCDS, CRC joins host Allison Van Doren, RN BSN CCDS CDIP CRC Vice President of Clinical and Quality Services. Together they discuss “What’s Best for CDI? The Pros and Cons of Working Remotely.” Using global research and real-life experience the pair presents the whole story from the onsite and remote work settings.
Listen and subscribe to the Intellis IQ Podcast at https://intellisiq.com/podcast/cdi-pros-and-cons-of-working-remotely/.
For more information, please download our white paper: “A Case for Remote CDI”
What Really Works for OP-CDI? Here’s Your Chance to Find Out
The ACDIS Symposium: Outpatient CDI conference is the only event dedicated to clinical documentation integrity (CDI) in the outpatient setting. The conference features innovative and informative sessions and speakers you can’t find anywhere else. If you need to know what works for OP-CDI, the Intellis Team will be at the heart of the event. So join us— booth 106.
Gain insight and best practices Intellis’ industry-recognized OP-CDI team
Meet VP of Clinical & Quality Services Allison Van Doren RN BSN CCDS CDIP CRC. Allison leads our clinical and quality team and is recognized industry-wide as an OP-CDI expert. Along with Allison meet VP of HIM Operations, Kristy Evans RHIT, CCS, CPC; CEO David Van Doren, RHIA, CCS, RAC-CT; and VP of Client Development Ryan Huxtable.
The conference features two days of education and networking dedicated to clinical documentation improvement (CDI) in the outpatient setting. Conference tracks address how to get started in the ambulatory setting, query techniques and nuances, metrics and analytics, staff training, and demonstrating ROI.
Our Team is looking forward to seeing you and helping you discover what’s best for OP-CDI. Join us at booth 106, November 14th and 15th at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, TX.
Intellis Experts Share Insight on Stigmatizing Language in Medical RecordsShould organizations address stigmatizing language in medical records?
That is the question posed by Lisa A. Eramo, MA in her article “Choose Your Words Carefully” in a recent edition of For The Record. “Words matter. It’s not only what you write but also how you write it that affects others. This is true in a variety of settings, and health care is certainly no exception. In fact, a recent study conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Journal of General Internal Medicine, May 2018) found that the words providers document in patients’ medical records affect how other clinicians perceive and ultimately care for those patients—and not necessarily for the better.
‘I think sometimes we consider the medical record as a collection of objectively recorded data and plans, but when you step back, it becomes clear that you can really shape the narrative about a patient in very different ways, both implicitly and explicitly,” says Anna Goddu, MD, lead author and a medical student at Johns Hopkins University.’ ”
For real-world insight into how word usage and stigmatizing language in patient health records affect provider perception, Eramo tapped Intellis HCC experts Kim Felix, RHIA, CCS, vice president of education and training and Jeanie Heck, CCS, CPC, CRC, director of education. Kim addressed examples of stigmatizing language. Further, she supported creating an atmosphere where CDI specialist feel safe flagging stigmatizing language and alerting risk management or quality assurance. Jeanie addressed the need to maintain professionalism and emphasized mandatory education to ensure less experienced staff understand the importance of appropriate language.
The full article is available in For the Record.
EHR Case Study: WellSpan Health Epic Conversion and Data Abstraction
During WellSpan Health’s Epic EHR conversion, the Intellis team consolidated five legacy EHRs, overcame significant interface match challenges, achieved over 99 percent accuracy, and delivered all key clinical data on day one. View the case study.
WellSpan Health is an integrated health care system headquartered in York, Pennsylvania. WellSpan works to ensure that inpatient, out-patient, home health, and physician services are accessible throughout the region. The health system includes:
- Providing care at six area hospitals
- Offering services at more than 130 outpatient locations
- Operating a regional home care organization
WellSpan launched “Project One,” to consolidate its five legacy EHRs and convert the entire system to the Epic EHR platform. At an estimated cost of $188.7 million over three years, the goal was to create uniformity, better connect providers with patients, and improve care coordination. WellSpan chose Intellis as a partner to support “Project One” by reducing costs, increasing accuracy, improving productivity, ensuring timely project completion, and successfully converting over 250,000 patient records to the Epic EHR platform. Contact us to learn more.
The health system expected delays, but they didn’t happen due to a ton of preparation work on the part the system’s workforce. WellSpan’s announcement of successful Epic EHR conversion go live: WellSpan Epic EHR goes live without a hitch | Healthcare IT News
“We recognized that we couldn’t function as one complete system, if we had multiple records and systems in place, We called it ‘Project One,’ not for its prioritization, but as it’s about one organization.”
— WellSpan Senior Vice President and CIO Hal Baker, MD