About the authors
Melinda Tully, MSN, CCDS, is Senior VP of Clinical Services and Education and has 25+ years in Acute Care as a Clinical Specialist and Nurse Practitioner. Her area of specialty is clinical documentation education focused on continuous quality improvement.
Paul Weygandt, MD, JD, MPH, MBA, is a Certified Physician Executive (CPE) with over 20 years of combined experience in medical management, legal counsel, and orthopedic surgery. His area of specialty is facilitating CFO-CMO/VPMA/Physician Relationships to drive quality improvement.
Blogroll
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Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- David Block MD, PhD on ICD-10: AMA Decision Tries to Avoid the Inevitable – and Will Likely Fail
- David Block MD, PhD on Open Medicare Database, Good or Bad for Healthcare?
- Steve Sisko on ICD-10 Impact on Medicare, Medicaid, Commercial Reimbursement
- Admin on AMA Votes to Stop ICD-10
- David Block MD, PhD on AMA Votes to Stop ICD-10
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Author Archives: Paul Weygandt
The Cost of ICD-10 Delay
In changing the compliance date, CMS acknowledged the significant financial impact on those entities that had prepared for 2013. CMS estimates that additional expenses of as much as 30 percent of original ICD-10 budgets could be necessary due to a … Continue reading
Posted in ICD-10
Tagged icd-10 cost, icd-10 delay, j.a. thomas
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Physicians Need Air Traffic Control
What you say? Physicians and air traffic have something in common? Well, let me point out that innovative organizations are currently expanding the role of the clinical documentation specialist to function as conduits of information flow, not only between physicians … Continue reading
ICD-10: AMA Decision Tries to Avoid the Inevitable – and Will Likely Fail
On November 15, 2011 the AMA House of Delegates performed a major disservice to its members and to the quality of healthcare in the United States. The delegates voted to stop the implementation of ICD-10, a concept inconsistent with quality … Continue reading
Posted in Coding, ICD-10
Tagged ama icd-10, icd-10, icd-10 postpone, icd10 delay, j.a. thomas
Hospitalists Play an Important Role in Good Documentation
If we can improve our documentation skills, both physicians and hospitals can get credit where credit is due. This becomes critical as Medicare ramps up its claims denial and recovery business to help “clean up” the system. This includes the … Continue reading
Posted in Clinical Documentation
Tagged Clinical Documentation, hospitalists documentation, j.a. thomas, medicare rac
Open Medicare Database, Good or Bad for Healthcare?
On December 5, 2011 CMS finalized a regulation that will allow its extensive claims database to be used by employers, insurance companies and consumer groups to produce report cards on local doctors and hospitals. Pursuant to section 10332 of the … Continue reading
Trimming Costs Without Sacrificing Quality – Part Two
Per my last blog post, a recent H&HN Daily article cited a list of six ‘wedges’ which held the possibility of improvement in healthcare as noted by the recently departed Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Don Berwick. Berwick’s six ‘wedges’ … Continue reading
Posted in Health Reform
Tagged cms don berwick, don berwick six wedges, h&hn six wedges, j.a. thomas, paul weygandt
Trimming Costs Without Sacrificing Quality – Part One
In a recent H&HN Daily article, the author cited a list of six ‘wedges’ which held the possibility of improvement in healthcare as noted by the recently departed Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Don Berwick. Berwick’s six ‘wedges’ are … Continue reading
Posted in Health Reform
Tagged cms don berwick, don berwick, j.a. thomas, paul weygandt, six wedges healthcare
Don’t leave physicians out in the cold about ICD-10
I am building on my last blog post about the fact that physicians have not been brought into the loop about ICD-10 (Physician Progress with ICD-10). We found that almost four out of five physicians (80%) have yet to hear … Continue reading
Physician progress with ICD-10
While Health Information Management professionals are clearly leading hospital preparation initiatives for ICD-10, let’s not forget physicians and how they are progressing. I was recently a panelist on Talk Ten Tuesday, a podcast providing current information on the ICD-10 transition. … Continue reading
Posted in ICD-10, Physicians
Tagged j.a. thomas, physician education icd-10, physicians and icd-10
Do the Benefits Outweigh the Costs of Converting to ICD-10?
From my previous post, you can ascertain that I feel the benefits clearly outweigh the ‘costs’ of moving to the new ICD-10-CM/PCS system. However, the costs are real. In fact, the transition from ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM/PCS will prove more costly … Continue reading
Posted in Clinical Documentation, ICD-10
Tagged coverting to icd-10, icd-10 costs, icd10, icd9, organizational costs icd-10, revenue cycle and icd10
