Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Kidney Stones and How to Avoid Them

Kidneys are the essential organs which perform the vital function of removing metabolic waste products from the blood and excreting them in urine, maintaining electrolyte balance, and regulating blood pressure. When water intake is low, urine tends to become concentrated and form crystals which gradually grow bigger and aggregate to form larger stones, the condition known as nephrolithiasis or renal lithiasis. Pain develops when the stone breaks away and becomes lodged in the urinary tract, either partially or totally blocking the passage of urine. Kidney stones are referred to as renal calculus, renal stone and ureteral calculus or stone, bladder calculus, or urethral stone, based on the location where they lodge.

One can suspect a kidney stone if there is sharp, excruciating pain in your back, side, lower abdomen, or groin; or have blood in your urine. Most of the people are unaware of kidney stones unless incidentally discovered on an x-ray done for a different medical problem. If shape and size do allow, kidney stones sometimes pass through with urine without significant discomfort after they break loose, but if they get lodged up somewhere along the urinary tract, in the ureters or the bladder, they cause problems with urination.

Calcium stones such as calcium oxalate are most common. Calcium phosphate stones form in conditions such as renal tubular acidosis, where the kidneys could not adequately filter out acids into the urine. In addition, struvite stones, uric acid stones, and cystine stones are some other types. Struvite stones develop in response to an infection, such as a urinary tract infection. These stones can grow quickly and become quite large. Uric acid stones can form in people who don't drink enough fluids or who lose too much fluid, those who eat a high-protein diet, and those who have gout. Cystine stones form in people with a hereditary disorder that causes the kidneys to excrete too much of certain amino acids such as cystine.

Treatment includes waiting for the stone to pass, physically fragmenting the stones or surgical removal; often a combination of this three-fold approach is required. Since people who have had one kidney stone are likely to develop more, kidney stone treatment involves not only addressing the immediate problem but also learning how to prevent the formation of additional kidney stones.

Prevention is better than cure always and drinking adequate water, avoiding high-protein foods for an extended period of time, avoiding high salt and sugar in diet, avoiding certain vegetables such as spinach, okra, beetroot, dried fig, and nuts, chocolate, black tea, and soybean products which have high oxalate content can help in stone prevention. Avoiding obesity by regular exercise and a healthy lifestyle can go a long way in preventing kidney stones.

Thursday, December 28, 2017

EMR Vs Medical Transcription



Electronic medical records (EMRs), mandated by Obamacare, promised multiple benefits such as shorter time to create accurate patient healthcare records, monitor and record patient health and treatment over a period of time, accessible to all providers involved in patient care, faster processing of claims, eliminate the need to repeat expensive medical tests, and would help in overall quality of care given to patients.

Obamacare signed into a law by President Barrack Obama on March 23, 2010, mandated EMR adoption by all healthcare institutions but is still not accepted across the board by majority of physicians in the US.  Instead of increasing patient-doctor interaction time and reducing clinical errors, it fell short of realizing its intended objectives, and the overall quality of healthcare is suffering because of that.  The doctors ended up spending a lot of time in front of their computers to input patient data and digitize information in the EMR that required them to scroll through multiple drop-down menus drastically reducing patient-care time.  The personal touch is missing from physicians’ diagnoses and consultations.  Some would still prefer the old style of the narrative which captures the entire patient story and help in arriving at wholesome treatment options.  The physicians’ critical thinking and logical rationalization of treatment options for patients could not be fully facilitated, with more time and attention needed for them to digitize the patient information and enable billing and coding parameters to bring about the intended revenue.  It is indeed against the basic philosophy of medicine which intends to cure patients’ illnesses rather than losing time in digitizing information and turning health care from its originally intended form into a health care business.  Thus at this juncture, with the EMRs that cannot play up to their promise, there is a vital role for medical transcriptionists (MTs) to bring about accurate healthcare documentation.

Whatever the advancements brought about by EMRs in storing and retrieval of clinical information, there is always the human touch that will be needed to make the patient story complete, accurate, referable, and usable by multiple providers who are treating the patient in his or her lifetime.  Thus it is not an entirely sunset time for MTs who can still be very proud of their integral role in clinical documentation and healthcare revenue cycle.  Having said so, they ought not to remain complacent with the traditional way that transcription is practiced but should keep pace with developments in technology such as advanced EMR platforms, allied fields of medical billing or coding, so that they can continue to sustain themselves and develop as multi-talented, multi-faceted professionals who can take up the challenges of the future and cater to the needs of the industry.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

HIPAA Compliance

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/HIPAA_Screenshot.pngHIPAA is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996-A law mandating that anyone belonging to a group health insurance plan must be allowed to purchase health insurance within an interval of time beginning when the previous coverage is lost. The law protects employees, especially those with long-term health conditions who may be reluctant to leave jobs because they are afraid pre-existing condition clauses will limit coverage of any such conditions under a new insurance plan, from losing health insurance due to a change in employment status. This act was basically designed to protect the privacy rights of individuals with regard to their confidential medical records. The act greatly restricts the dissemination and transmittal of personal patient information and has dramatically affected the way healthcare information is handled. HIPAA regulations have also tried to restrict the use of preexisting condition exclusions, create special enrollment periods and prohibit discrimination based on health-status related conditions in enrollment and premiums.

HIPAA - Primary objectives

This act was a result of congressional health care reform proponents to reform healthcare. The four primary objectives it serves to achieve are:
  • Reduce healthcare fraud and abuse
  • Assure health insurance portability by eliminating job-lock due to pre-existing medical conditions
  • Enforce standards for health information
  • Guarantee security, privacy, and confidentiality of patient health information

Of the four primary objectives, the fourth objective has the most impact on medical transcription since it deals with handling and transfer of sensitive information of patient health data usually in electronic form. All transcription organizations, therefore, must be able to support two requirements:

1. Ensure the security and confidentiality of the patient’s Protected Health Information and

2. Maintain an audit trail of all individuals who have had access to Protected Health Information.

This means that transcription service providers must implement technology and business processes in their operation to support these two major requirements.

HIPAA Regulations and its reach-HIPPA regulations have been devised to have broad application with a variety of extensions. These provisions extend to all health care providers who transmit health records in an electronic format and health care billing companies. The Act refers to these organizations as "Covered Entities". Most Medical Transcription Services and their employees are not considered "Covered Entities" under the Act unless their organization also engages in services that put them in the category of "Covered Entity". Medical Transcription Services are typically regarded under the Act as "Business Associates".

https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3284/2870448198_39a44959fa_z.jpg?zz=1 
Covered Entity and Business Associate
 
HIPAA defines a Covered Entity (CE) as a health plan, a healthcare clearinghouse, or a healthcare provider who transmits any health information in electronic form in connection with an HIPAA transaction. A physician’s office thereby would fall under the category of a Covered Entity.

The Act defines a Business Associate as "any person or organization that performs a function or activity on behalf of a Covered Entity, but is not part of the Covered Entity's workforce (employees, volunteers, trainees and others) under the Covered Entity's direct control, regardless of whether they are paid by the Covered Entity." A medical transcription service provider would be classified under the definition of a Business Associate.

As a Business Associate, the Medical Transcription Service may not be directly governed by HIPAA regulations. But however, indirectly, the Business Associates are governed in accordance with the fact that Covered Entities are required to obtain written assurances from the Business Associates that they deal with to ensure that patient identifying information is appropriately safeguarded. These written assurances must be included in a written contract between the Covered Entity and the Business Associate.

HIPAA & Independent Medical Transcriptionists?

Medical transcriptionists who operate as Independent Contractors to Medical Transcription Services (Business Associates) and who have direct access to patient health information are referred to by the Act as "Third Parties." Third Parties must have a written contract with the Business Associate for whom they provide contract services to assure that patient information conveyed to them will be appropriately safeguarded and that all electronic data transmissions between the Third Party and the Business Associate are conducted in accordance with the approved national standard. This contract should be similar in nature and scope to the contract between the Business Associate and the coveted entity.

Deadline for Complying with guidelines of HIPAA?

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2459/3865993401_fccb12ba0b_b.jpgHIPAA act requires that healthcare organizations insurers and payors that have been using any electronic means of storing patient data and performing claims submission must comply with this rule by April 14, 2003. Since medical transcription deals with handling and storing patient data in electronic form, it is necessary that all such organizations must comply with this deadline. Small health care plans will have until April 14, 2004, to become completely compliant. However, all other covered entities must become fully compliant by April 14, 2003.

Standards prescribed for Transmittal of Electronic Patient Information - HIPAA act requires that healthcare organizations insurers and payors that have been using any electronic means of storing patient data and performing claims submission must comply with this rule by April 14, 2003. Since medical transcription deals with handling and storing patient data in electronic form, it is necessary that all such organizations must comply with this deadline.

Internet & HIPAA compliance-With advancing technology, the internet has become the major source of electronic data transmission over the years and will surely continue to do so. Hence, it becomes necessary on the part of medical transcription service provider to use encryption and password protection to prevent unauthorized access to any patient information. Dictations done on a telephone does not need to be encrypted. However, voice files transmitted by portable recorders should be encrypted prior to transmission over the Internet. 

Transcribed documents must be sent back to the healthcare provider also in a secured manner using encrypted email or a secure FTP site or may be faxed with a disclaimer statement explaining the confidential nature of the document. However, use of tapes lends a high degree of a doubt since there is no way to verify an audit trail as to who has had the tape and who listened to patient data on the tape. If the tape is lost, one cannot guarantee the security of the information on it.

Other Key Provisions of the Act - The primary focus of the Act is to restrict the leakage and dissemination of patient health care information. The conditions under which information can be conveyed are very explicitly stated. The rules specifically pertain to health information that is transmitted or maintained in any form be it oral, paper, electronic, etc and which contains patient identifying information. Patient identifying information includes such things as name, address, social security number, phone number, and any other information, which could be used to identify an individual.

In order to be compliant with the rules and regulations of HIPAA, covered entities must implement measures to ensure that patient information is protected in accordance with the provisions of the Act. Specifically:

1. A proper written proof must be provided to individuals telling them as to how their information will be used and to whom it will be disseminated (i.e. to insurance and billing companies, or other health care practitioners).

2. Similarly, a written consent should also be obtained from the individual allowing for the use and maintenance of personal information as provided for by the Act.

3. Disclosure of information for any other purpose must be done always after documented specific authorization from the individual.

4. All efforts must be made by covered entities to minimize the dispersal of patient information through any means.

5. Covered entities must establish and maintain adequate administrative, technical and physical measures to ensure that all privacy requirements are upheld within the organization.

6. Business Associate must be directed specifically to safeguard all patient related information in the best possible way and covered entities should periodically review the standards of security and confidentiality of their Business Associate.

Penalty imposition for the non-compliance-The total amount of civil penalties for multiple violations by a Covered Entity during a calendar year is capped at $25,000.

HIPAA also provides from criminal liability for Covered Entities for knowingly obtaining or disclosing individually identifiable health information. The maximum penalty is a fine of $50,000 and imprisonment of one year. If the offense is committed under false pretenses, the maximum penalty is a fine of $100,000 and imprisonment of five years. If the offense is committed with the intent to sell, transfer or use individually identifiable health information for commercial advantage, personal gain or malicious harm, the maximum penalty is a fine of $250,000 and imprisonment of ten years.

Both Civil and criminal penalties can be imposed for noncompliance with HIPAA. The truss of these penalties is usually directed against Covered Entities but not directed directly against Business Associates. However, indirectly, the business Associates do come under penalty imposition since they are contractually obligated to comply with these regulations.

Rights of the patient under HIPAA provides the patient with many new rights in relation to their healthcare documentation. Some of them include:
  • Right to review their entire medical record and data.
  • Right to request changes within documentation (though this comes under the preview of the physician who can deny for specific reasons
  • Right to request documentation every time their information was accessed, along with the identity of the individual accessing the document with the specific reason for doing so.
  • Right to know how much of the information was shared.
  • Right to know what the Covered Entity’s policies and procedures are for security and privacy.

Sunday, March 5, 2017

How to Become a Medical Transcriptionist

The Basics

Medical transcriptionists create reports and other administrative documents from physicians’ dictated recordings. In addition to transcribing, you’ll edit information for grammar errors and proper usage of medical terms in a patient’s records. You’ll need an in-depth knowledge of medical terminology, anatomy, medical procedures and treatments, and pharmacology—as well as a high degree of attention to detail. Medical transcriptionists must also be aware of the legal standards and requirements that apply to health records.

Where you’ll work: Hospitals, clinics, physicians’ offices, nursing homes, public health agencies and home health care agencies. Some medical transcriptionists work at home as employees of transcription businesses or as independent contractors.

Education and Training

In addition to your degree, you’ll need to complete a certified medical transcription training program, usually a 6-month to the 2-year certificate, diploma or associate’s degree program.

Graduates must understand medical terms, their meanings, spelling, and pronunciation, and possess hands-on transcription experience.

Coursework generally includes the following subjects:
  •     English composition and grammar
  •     Computer applications
  •     Medical terminology
  •     Pathology
  •     Anatomy and physiology
  •     Medical transcription skills 
Medical Transcriptionist Certification

Certification is optional but highly recommended. Medical transcriptionists who pass the national exam given by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) will earn the title Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT). Every 3 years, CMTs must earn continuing education credits to be re-certified.



Source: allalliedhealthschools.com