April 2011

ETHICS 101 MEDICAL FIELD

Ever thought about the business ethics relating to billing, transcription or coding? What are ethics? They are a set of moral principles and for our purposes, they are the rules of conduct recognized to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc., in this case professional ethics.

Let’s look at some of the ethical standards in the related fields of healthcare. Since MTs, billers, coders, and medical office personnel are certainly directly in the pipeline of patient information management, here are a few things to think about.

• Confidential management of patient information
• High standards for transcription practices such as encrypting files before sending, not having files sit on a computer unprotected, shredding patient information that may have been printed, having a locked file cabinet for any disks that may contain patient information, and even having a lock on the office door
• Continue professional growth to enhance knowledge and skill set
• Keep abreast of the HIPAA Law relating to patient information and make sure your practice, or business are in compliance
• Commitment to rapid response in the need for distribution of patient information so that efforts to close time gaps work since lives may hang in the balance
• Commit to the need for medical records that are as close to correct as possible
• Learn the facts about correct coding policies (and the law)*
• If involved in the billing/payment process, use integrity to do a good and honest job of it

*Accurate coding must reflect exactly what happened during a provider-patient encounter. Coders never up-code to gain a higher payment advantage.

In the MT field, it isn’t unusual to hear about unfair competition, for example, inducing customers you work on for your employer to leave and come over to you as your customer. That’s unethical. Coders who try to figure higher reimbursement for using the technically incorrect codes are unethical. Any patient professional who provides unauthorized medical information is unethical. Additionally, unethical activities may have serious legal consequences.

WHAT ARE BUSINESS ETHICS?

Abstracted from an article by: Chester Clive (http://www.articlesbase.com)
Business ethics apply to any and all aspects of business conduct, from boardroom strategies to how companies treat their employees, managers, suppliers and even to sales techniques and accounting practices. Ethics go beyond the legal requirements for a company. Ethical matters are an almost daily topic in the news, in business schools, in politics, in the workplace and in our homes. As a business coach, Mr. Clive pays close attention to business ethics and what is written about them since he is a strategic thinking, planning and business coach.

Our personal interpretation of ethics affects our interpersonal relations with others, such as family, friends, neighbors, and fellow workers.

Business ethics examine rules and principles within a commercial context; the various moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business setting; and any special duties or obligations that apply to persons who are engaged in commerce. Implementing an ethics program in an organization accomplishes many things. First, research has found that greater attention to ethics in the workplace has actually improved society overall; for instance, we no longer have to fear poverty due to accidents in the workplace, and our children are no longer forced to work at age 8. Those in the workplace have more rights, and are therefore more productive.

You hear stories of large business fraud to small business embezzlement reported with ever-increasing frequency; unfortunately business ethics are under attack. Political ethics make the daily news.

Clearly then, ethics play an ever increasing role in our society today, and environmental ethics and business ethics should be in the vanguard. The Wall Street melt down a couple of years ago is a great example of serious ethical problems that had a very wide and disastrous impact on our country’s economics. Swindles are so popular that people make their living at them.

• 2 large cans of Campbell’s Chunky Sirloin Burger soup
• 3 cups of white rice, cooked.

Drain the soup a little, and pour over the hot cooked rice. Microwave until hot. Serve with saltine crackers or buttered bread and a fresh garden salad. This recipe is quick and easy for busy, working students!

March 2011

BUILDING A HOME-BASED MT BUSINESS

Due to lay-offs, corporate down-sizing, and advances in technology, many people are finding themselves out of a job. Starting a home-based business is the answer for many Americans.

Questions to ask before starting a home-based business:

• Can I make enough money as a freelancer/home-based business owner?
• Do I have the skills needed to operate my own home business?
• What experience and expertise do I have in the business I might start?
• Am I willing to work in all aspects of this business- even the parts I may not like or be any good at?
• Am I ready to make the commitment to such a project?

Remember there is more to it than just doing the job itself. You will have to choose a name, figure out how to advertise and get some clients, how to pay the overhead, set up an accounting system, figure out taxes (most are filed quarterly), and determine how much time you have to devote since it is probably more than you think. You have to plan for reasonable work schedules and their respective deadlines and family responsibilities don’t always adapt well to your schedule requirements.

Now think about whether your family budget can afford the extra expenditures and think about the lifestyle changes the business will create. Is there sufficient space in your home that can be allocated as office space? Is the space quiet and away from the television, music, and other distractions? The family has to understand and respect your boundaries in both the “office” area and the time factors.

If you have younger kids that require more attention, maybe set up a child care/share so that you can focus on the business during your scheduled daily task routine.

As you have probably figured out, the first thing is to talk to your family and get their input and thoughts with your required expectations relating to the new rules. They will need to understand and support your work schedule even though you are “working at home.”

Starting a home-based MT service can be a rewarding venture, but evaluating what is really involved and getting the family on-board are the first essentials.

MARKETING YOUR MT BUSINESS

First, develop a business plan. You will find all kinds of information available in your library as well as on the Internet on writing the plan. If you don’t know enough, just make an outline and plug in more detail as you discover more information.

You are already presuming there is a market so next is to figure out the competition. Call around, or email potential clients to see what they are paying. In marketing service, always evaluate the competition. Know what services they are offering, what marketing techniques they are using, and what their pricing structure is. Visit the related websites to see what they say.

• Remember … you are not limited to your own surrounding area; your clientele is all over the U.S. as well as other countries.

It is important to understand that many businesses fail due to lack of clients; therefore, it is important to educate yourself about effective marketing techniques such as creating and mailing out flyers/brochures for clients, developing a winning presentation that you can give to potential clients about the services you offer. Questions to ask yourself regarding your marketing plan are as follows:

• What are the needs of my potential clients?
• What can I offer that the competition doesn’t?
• What value added services can I offer?
• Am I pricing my services correctly? You don’t want to under/over price your services, though you can offer a freebie to get them exposed to your quality work.
• What area should I focus my marketing efforts in?
• How will I deliver services to my clients?
• Am I charging enough to make a profit?

Some good avenues to market your services are in newsletters, online websites, networking with other professionals in the industry, and using direct-mail campaigns to send flyers. You need to have enough money in your marketing budget to effectively solicit clients, but you do not need to do high-end marketing (TV ads, expensive Internet ads) in order to get clients. Keep your marketing simple and targeted to your specific demographic.

Network within the MT community for clients, ideas, and strategies. Make good use of the Internet. Plan to create a website for your business in order to have a good online presence. You can buy template sites that you just pick a design and fill in the pages, no programmer needed, for as little as $7.50 a month. Learn some basic search engine marketing strategies in order to have a get web spider ranking for your website, especially Google. You can find information on basic SEO strategies by visiting your local public library or key it in an online search engine..

If you aren’t already a medical transcriptionist, you need to know that it all starts with excellent foundation training and lots of transcription practice. A good MT program should not just teach you about words and typing, but should include training on how to find work, potential clients, and even how to run your own MT business. The Meditec Online Medical Transcription Training Program includes all you need to know to set yourself up as a businessperson using the HomeBizBook. It’s an A-Z guide on starting your own MT business and is available at no charge to enrolled Meditec students. If you enroll from another school, be sure to call and order your copy: 877-335-4072.

Starting your own home-based MT business can be a rewarding and profitable venture for those who are willing to educate themselves on the process and are willing to do the work involved to reach significant business goals.

The next step is to develop a business plan. All kinds of information on how to develop and prepare a business plan is available at your library as well as on the Internet. Just key in the words, “business plan.”

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

I recently received my certificate for Medical Transcription through Meditec. I had lost a job due to downsizing and there were very few jobs available due to the current economy. Deciding that working from home would be very beneficial and that Medical Transcription sounded very interesting, I did several hours of research and chose Meditec for my schooling. The most appealing aspect was the option of working on the course at your own pace. Being a mother, wife , and still working a part-time job, made the prospect of trying to work around someone else’s schedule daunting. The course is set up in a way that makes it easy to flow from one section to the next, and if I had any questions, someone was just an e-mail or telephone call away. After passing the course, I entered the internship program. I was set up with a great company and was done with the internship in three-and-a-half months. On the last day, I was very excited when the company offered me a job! The staff at Meditec is very supportive, pleasant to deal with, and always makes you feel welcome. I am still in contact with them occasionally to ask their advice, and I would wholeheartedly recommend Meditec for a way to get an interesting career started.

Ellen E

Instructor Response: Ellen, we are so proud of your success as a newly working MT. We wish you the very best! Dawn M, Instructor

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

This month it’s about quick and easy!

• 2 large cans of Campbell’s Chunky Sirloin Burger soup
• 3 cups of white rice, cooked.

Drain the soup a little, and pour over the hot cooked rice. Microwave until hot. Serve with saltine crackers or buttered bread and a fresh garden salad. This recipe is quick and easy for busy, working students!

POSITIVE THOUGHT FOR MARCH

If you think you can or can’t, you are probably right.

• All action first starts as a thought.
• Action follows thought.

If we approach a task with the thought that we can accomplish it, then we tend bring to our disposal all tools necessary to accomplish the task. This happens very naturally by simply being determined to meet the goal. Conversely, if you approach a task with an already defeated attitude, it is likely that defeat is exactly what will happen. What we focus on increases.

• Thoughts actually create energy
• The energy helps you do the task and opens other doors as well

Keep thoughts of success in the forefront of your mind. If defeatist thoughts start to creep into your mind, immediately and consciously change them to a more positive vibe.

All successful people had many failures before reaching their desired goals. The difference between those who ultimately succeed and those who ultimately fail lies in how one thinks. A successful person ignores the word, failure, and just chalks up every happening that has any negativity as a positive learning experience. If they fail an exam or test, they don’t feel like a failure. They learn from that experience what is needed to do better on the next attempt.

• Success and failure happen in the mind first.
• Be thankful for your “experiences” if you learned something.
• Determine now to be successful in all that you undertake

FUNNY STUFF – WORDS & PHRASES

Word origins: ever wondered why the word “wakes” was used when somebody died. How about dead ringer? Where in the world did that come from?
To find out, we have to go back again to the 1500s in England, about wakes and dead ringers.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and so they were prepared for burial. They were “laid out” on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if the person would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake. Of course, why didn’t I think of that? Because never in a million years would I have figured it out.

Try these on for size, “saved by the bell,” “dead ringer,” and the “graveyard shift,” which literally was a grave yard shift. When England started running out of places to bury people, they would dig up coffins and take the bones to a bone-house, then reuse the grave. When these coffins were opened to remove the bones, one out of 25 coffins was found to have scratch marks on the inside (OMG) and they realized they had been burying people alive. So what could they do to avoid burying people alive? They tied a string on the wrist of the alleged corpse, lead the string up through the coffin and up through the ground and tied it to a bell. That would work, but someone had to sit out in the graveyard all night (the actual graveyard shift) to listen for the bell. Now we can add another expression: “saved by the bell.” If the bell rang, the person who was buried and rang the bell was a “dead ringer.”

Wow, I always thought “saved by the bell” probably came from boxing so that when one guy was pounding the other and the poundee had about had it, the bell rang, so the loser was “saved by the bell.” How wrong I was.

As far “dead ringer,” I think we’ve broadened that meaning considerably. Now it means that someone looks just like another. Jari D wondering about words.

DON’T FORGET STUDENT REFERRALS

How would you like to help a friend and earn $100 in the process?
With our unique referral program, the person you refer gets 10% off ANY of our training programs and the referrer will receive $100 when the student enrolls. Refer as many people as you like, there is no limit on the reward dollars you can earn. For complete details, please refer to the website.
Read all about it: http://www.meditec.com/student-referral-program/

• Paralegal PLUS Legal Transcription – learn it all – discounted from $2474 to $2195 for the entire package; an unbeatable combination – COMPARE TO $7500 elsewhere

Click here to go directly to the Website Specials Page: http://www.meditec.com/specials/
Or call toll free: 877-335-4072 to speak with an enrollment specialist. Don’t wait, just do it!!

February 2011

Work-At-Home Career Training

Meditec offers career training in several areas that are great for those who want to work at home. Many people come to us each year wanting to train in a career that would afford them the ability to work at home and make a decent income.


MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION


Medical transcriptionists work at home transcribing audio dictation to create the patient medical record. Most MTs work at home. This career path requires a comprehensive medical vocabulary, ability to type fast, and great attention to detail. Depending on the time one can spend in the training, it takes about 4-6 months average to learn what is needed to launch a career. Then it takes a few more months of practice, but then an MT with experience can earn anywhere from $15-$20 or more per hour. Meditec’s online MT program also offers an internship program to help graduates get to work faster.


MEDICAL CODING AND BILLING


Medical coders/billers sometimes work at home but usually after some in-office experience. Coders take the transcribed medical record and apply alpha-numeric codes that the insurance company uses to pay or deny claims. It takes about 3-6 months to learn to be a medical coder. Billers enter data charges and send the billing information to the correct payer. They post the payments and do the necessary write-offs as well. It’s a good idea to combine billing with coding (in our program we also include a module on Health Insurance). Meditec’s online coding/billing combination program can be completed in under a year. Medical coders and billers are paid from $14 to $50 per hour depending on experience. The higher end of the income scale is usually for self-employed people who offer consulting services or charge by the code to clients. Billers in business for themselves usually charge a percentage of what is collected.


LEGAL OPPORTUNITIES


Paralegals and legal transcriptionists (LTs) may work at home or in an office. Most LTs work at home. Some paralegals work at home for attorney employers/clients and others set up their own law practice. Legal transcriptionists type dictation from attorneys, paralegals, and may also process depositions, case pleadings, hearings, and court proceeding testimony. The training to become an LT is a fast track process and far easier than medical transcription to learn (though the combination of the two has a great marketing potential). Most LTs make between $10-$20 an hour or more (depending on speed). Paralegals make $15-$75 an hour depending on what they do and whether they work for themselves.


Meditec’s Paralegal Program may be completed in less than a year, and the LT program in 6 months or less.


THE ECONOMICS


Working at home has great benefits – commuting costs, lunches out, vehicle expenses, work clothes, etc. If you have a strong desire to work at home, then training with Meditec in one of our comprehensive, interactive, online programs, is the way to go. Contact us if you’d like a FREE Career Guide in any of the above-mentioned career paths. You will learn what’s involved and what to expect.

Medical Coding and ICD-9 2011 changes

Annually, in October each year, coders have to deal with new ICD-9 and CPT codes that are added or deleted. For example, this year, new cardiology codes, ectasia, congenital malformation, and body mass index (BMI) codes have been added. Here are some of the proposed changes that could impact a cardiology practice.


Ectasia hunt will end at 447.7x


ICD 9 2011 adds four specific codes to aortic ectasia, which could be among the most significant changes for cardiology coders. Ectasia means dilation or enlargement, and aortic ectasia often refers to an enlargement that is milder than an aneurysm. Aneurysms were formerly the only choice as the ICD-9 2010 didn’t distinguish ectasia from aneurysm, linking aortic ectasia to 441.9 and 441.5. The proposed 2011 codes are specific to aortic ectasia so are now a distinguishable category.


New congenital malformations code


Some of the additions deal with congenital malformations of the heart and circulatory system. Code V13.65 will be very helpful. The descriptor is: Personal history of (corrected) congenital malformations of heart and circulatory system


The ICD-9 proposal has expanded the body mass index (BMI) codes to show higher BMIs with five codes. Coders won’t be using V85.4 but will start using more specific V codes.

A NOTE ABOUT OVERPAYMENTS: FINDERS ARE NOT KEEPERS

WHAT ABOUT PATIENT ACCOUNT OVERPAYMENTS?


From a Practice Scenario: We found out that a patient overpaid us on her co-pay. Fifty dollars was the last co-pay we had on record. It turns out that the patient’s plan changed but is still under the same payer. However, her co-pay is now only $25 for an office visit. In this case, can we just credit her account or do we need to issue a refund?


Answer: You do need to issue a refund to the patient; however, how you do that is up to the patient. As soon as you find out that a patient has overpaid you, your practice should notify the patient.


You cannot hold onto the money for an indefinite period of time.


You can credit the patient’s account, however only if the patient agrees to that. If the patient will be returning to your office you can suggest that you apply the overpayment as a credit toward the patient’s co-payment for the next visit. But again if the patient does not want to apply it toward a future visit, you must return the overpayment.


You should offer two options:
A credit on the patient’s account that you’ll apply to future services or a refund of the overpayment. You may find it easier to just send the overpayment amount back to the patient with a letter explaining the situation, rather than notifying the patient and discussing options. Go for whichever process works best for your practice. Bottom line: You cannot and shouldn’t keep an overpayment – from a patient or a payer. That practice may land your provider into big trouble. The pact to return any overpayments is fundamental to a provider’s eligibility to participate in the Medicare program. Section 1866(a)(1)(C) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1395cc) calls for participating providers to furnish information about payments made to them and to refund any payments paid incorrectly. The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act creates new obligations under the False Claims Act (FCA) whereby a Medicare provider who fails to report timely and refund an overpayment may be subject to substantial damages and penalties.


Excerpted from – James Smith – On code descriptors & guidelines and other tools for 2010 CPT code, HCPCS lookup that help coders and billers to excel in the work they do every day.

Happy Valentine’s Day from Meditec

• Thursday -11:00-Noon Central- MT/Medical Students
• Friday- 11:00-Noon Central- Legal Students
• Saturday- 2pm-3pm Central- MT/Medical students
• Sunday- 2pm-3pm Central- Legal Students

• 3-5 pounds of lean ground beef
• 1 large frozen bag okra
• 1 large can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 bag frozen green peppers
• 1 jar chopped red peppers
• 1 large container bread crumbs (can use 2 containers if using 5lbs beef)
• 2 packets Lipton onion soup mix
• 3-5 eggs
• Ketchup, black pepper

Mix all ingredients together except ketchup and pepper. Bake 350 for 30-45 minutes. Top w/ ketchup and pepper and bake another 20 minutes.

January 2011 Newsletter

New Beginnings

Ah, a brand new year! A time to reflect, plan, hope and implement. This is a good time to re-evaluate life paths. Am I happy? Maybe just content? Am I productive? How am I doing financially? Are the goals I set a lifetime ago or just last year still on track? Are they achievable? Looking back at the past year, did I improve things? Did things change for the better or for the worse? How did I/do I measure up? It’s a good time to reflect on where we are and where we are going. It is a time for new beginnings.

During this time of life assessment, it’s a good thing to map out a plan for the New Year. A life well lived is a life well planned. We cannot expect to have great outcomes in any project, goal, or endeavor without some forethought and planning. In mapping out a plan for the New Year, we are not talking about making a list of resolutions though resolutions can be a good thing for some. The down side is that we tend to put things on the resolution list that we feel we should do rather than what we really want to do. To begin mapping out a plan for the New Year start by asking yourself what you really want. The following questions can assist in assessing your true values and desires over the things you feel you should accomplish.

• What would I change about my financial situation to make it better or more stable?
• What would I change about my life to create more happiness for myself and those around me?
• Do I need more time with family?
• Do I need more money to help make goals/dreams come true?
• Am I happy in my current job/career?

The answers to those questions will help in determining what kind of a plan of action would be effective to improve upon any of the negative answers. If you need more time with your family, then how can you effectively make that happen? If money is an issue, how can you increase income creatively? If you are unhappy in your present job or career, what steps can you take this year to get closer to your goal of career achievement? By answering these questions, you begin to understand what you might consider in order to reach your goals. Even small steps leading to a major goal are better than not taking any action at all. If you’ve always dreamed of a college degree, then enroll in some classes. If you are unhappy in your current job or career, consider some fast-track career training. If you need extra money, consider starting a small side business that you would enjoy operating. The choice is yours.

Let 2011 be the year that you took positive steps toward creating the life of your dreams.

As you reflect, write your goals down and read them every day. Make notes that relate to items on your list as they open, alter, shift and change (which they always do, part of the fascination of this life experience), and above all….Enjoy yourself!!

Technology companies try to anticipate change and then implement it. After change is proposed or enacted as law, the breaking news is all about the implementation done by some big company or firm, and how others are trying to follow suit.

In 2010, a very major change was proposed and enacted that deeply affected the insurance industry as well as those in need of affordable medical care. Healthcare reforms were implemented and brought tremendous amount of challenge and the need for change in the healthcare sector. The main motive was to make sure that healthcare services are available to one and all within the range of affordable prices. Certainly you noticed it was a political Ping-Pong ball.

Healthcare providers, health insurance companies, employers who provide healthcare benefits to employees were all affected by these reforms. At the same time, agents, brokers and smaller units facilitating the process of health insurance are also impacted.

Along with the changes, lots of opportunities and ideas spring forth from the companies that innovate and development software. The IT (Information Technology) departments of all the healthcare providers and the insurers then scramble to provide the solutions. Like we mentioned in the New Year Plan -health care providers and insurers – no matter how large or small must:

1. Know what type of change is required
2. Design and test the new platforms and delivery tools and systems
3. Implement ways to adapt to the changes
4. Ensure that the compliance to change is monitored and audited
5. Try to preserve any profit margin

It is not easy to adapt to change quickly but survival in the market demands swift action when a change is imposed that affects any kind of business. It is true that the insurance industry certainly opposed the new plan for reform, but faced with the challenges of business, they will likely learn something from the process to make sure they perform as expected to survive the changes. Certainly the reform will have an impact on their profits. Policies will shift and change and lifetime caps will provide no protection for payers. Medicare Advantage Plans will be impacted as well.

The insurance costs and denial of benefits (pre-existing conditions) were the main target that the reforms were trying to address. It is hoped that if insurance costs could be significantly decreased, more of the 23 million uninsured people in the U.S. would be able to afford coverage. Keep in mind that the high costs of care for the “no insurance” category of people creates a huge number of credit-related problems, including bankruptcy.

The mandatory benefit package may cost more than the catastrophic plans, which will ensure that the insurance companies are not in loss column. The healthcare reforms require that insurers provide a certain minimum level of benefits in the health insurance exchanges that individuals and small firms must use to buy coverage. It is expected that the law will reduce about $200 billion in government payments to Medicare Advantage Plans. Healthcare. That may be interesting.

The challenge for healthcare IT companies is to analyze the situation and key areas where they need to change in order to make sure that their business makes the grade. Administrative costs need to be driven down to leverage profits since the premiums are going to slide down and reduce as the implementation goes in full-swing. With the creation of state insurance exchanges, the prices of health plans would hopefully become competitive. At the same time , technology compliance and implementation will require substantial investment to bridge the gap.

Time – NOTE ALL TIMES ARE CENTRAL, so calculate according to where you live

• Thursday -11:00-Noon Medical
• Friday- 11:00-Noon – Legal
• Saturday- 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. – Medical
• Sunday- 2:00 pm-3:00 p.m. – Legal

Also, Meditec is now on Facebook. Please join our Facebook page and enjoy the fun! Meditec’s Online Medical Courses to Online Medical Career Page

INTERESTING WEBSITES

http://www.healthcare.gov/?gclid=CPGdvI77m6YCFchl7Aode2AGnQ Healthcare reform website.

RECIPE FOR JANUARY

Green Pepper Casserole

• 3 lbs ground beef, cooked, drained
• 2 large cans diced tomatoes, partially drained
• 2 cups cooked white rice
• 1 bag frozen chopped green peppers
• 4 large fresh green peppers, chopped
• 1 large can tomato sauce

*Cook and drain ground beef. Cook white rice. Add all ingredients into a large 13x9x2 pan. Top with tomato sauce. Bake for 45 minutes 350 degrees.

Student Spotlight

My name is Kathy T. Due to childcare issues, I had to quit my job about four years ago. Once I found suitable childcare, I was unable to find a job. We live in an area that has been hit hard by the economic downturn and jobs are scarce around here. I talked to a friend who went through Meditec’s program about 7-8 years ago and she encouraged me to try it. I did some research and thought being an MT would be very interesting. Plus, I can find a job for a company outside my area and work from home. After researching other MT courses and hearing about my friend’s experience, I decided to go with Meditec. The internship program was an added bonus to the program. I loved that I could work at my own pace. During the course of my studies, I had to stop for extended periods a couple of times due to other things going on in my life. It was so nice not to lose everything I had worked for when I had to stop for awhile. Also, every time I called Meditec needing advice or help with a problem, the people I talked to were always very helpful. I got the feeling they really care and really want us to succeed. I have finished my MT course and am now working on my internship. I am excited about this new opportunity in my life. Thank you Meditec!

Congratulations to Kathy T from the Meditec staff. Way to go, Kathy! We are glad that we could assist you in meeting your goals of becoming a work at home MT. Please stay in touch with us!

December 2010 Newsletter

ALL ABOUT ICD-10
Many people are wondering what ICD-10 is and how implementation will affect their medical coding careers. The fact is that nearly every country except the United States is already using ICD-10. ICD 9 was developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the 1970s. ICD-10 was developed by WHO in 1993, and most countries adopted it very quickly. So the question, is why do we need a new book? The answer is simply that ICD 9 has run out of room! With advances in medical technologies and science, there are more new diagnoses every time which the current system cannot document.

The Department of Health and Human Services has stated that implementation of ICD-10 in the US is scheduled for October 2013. Some coding students are worried because some entities are pushing training for ICD-10 now. The AAPC doesn’t recommend that coders start training at present for ICD-10 for several reasons. The main reason is that one tends to forget what is not in practice immediately. At the moment, coding students need to learn ICD 9 coding because that is the system in current use right now. A few months before ICD-10 is implemented, most good programs and organizations will have seminars, webinars, etc to train on how to code with the new book. Coding procedure will scarcely change, therefore, the transition is quite easy.

Many coders and coding students ask how ICD-10 will be different from ICD-9. Well, the key difference is: A) ICD-10 will have more codes than ICD-9. B) Since ICD-9 codes are mostly numeric, ICD-10 codes will be alpha-numeric; in fact, ICD-10 will have up to 7 alpha-numeric digits as compared to 5 numeric digits in ICD-9. Lastly, ICD-10 will have an upgrade of up to 141,000 codes, compared to 17,000 in ICD-9.

Right now, students who want to learn medical coding will need to learn ICD 9 and CPT coding conventions. Medical coding procedures and conventions will remain pretty standard between ICD 9 and ICD-10. The skill set will transfer easily. There will be coding seminars, webinars, etc available through professional coding organizations and schools.

THE HITECH ACT AND HIPAA – WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR IT PROFESSIONALS?

The Health Information Technology for Economic & Clinical Health (HITECH) act really does ‘up the ante’ for HIPAA enforcement. In theory, health organizations have had to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) since its introduction in 1996. Originally, HIPAA was introduced by congress to protect the health insurance rights of employees made redundant. Additional ‘Titles’ to the act were introduced including ‘Title 2′ which was designed to protect electronically stored data relating to patient health information – often referred to as ‘Protected Health Information’ (PHI).

The Health Information Technology for Economic & Clinical Health (HITECH) act really does ‘up the ante’ for HIPAA enforcement.

In theory Health organizations have had to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) since its introduction in 1996. Originally HIPAA was introduced by congress to protect the health insurance rights of employees made redundant. Additional ‘Titles’ to the act were introduced including ‘Title 2′ which was designed to protect electronically stored data relating to patient health information – often referred to as ‘Protected Health Information’ (PHI)

The problem with HIPAA has been the broad interpretation adopted by many healthcare providers and insurers. In fact, many providers require the waiver of HIPPA rights as a condition of service. This has undoubtedly resulted in a varying degree of adoption among providers leaving many unsure as to whether they are or are not considered compliant. But how could you blame them? The requirements aren’t specific and there has been little enforcement to speak of.

The HITECH act as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act aims to change all that with increased penalties for non-compliance.
A breach that exposes a patient’s confidential data could have serious and lasting consequences. Unlike credit cards, for example, which can be cancelled and changed if they are exposed – health care records can’t just be changed or re-set. According to data from Forrester Research, criminals are increasingly targeting health care organizations. For security teams within health organizations, HITECH’s increased penalties may well assist in the justification of funding needed to sure up security and compliance projects that otherwise may have languished under the previously ambivalent and poorly defined HIPAA enforcement.

It is open to debate as to how the federal government will audit compliance with HIPAA’s security requirements from here on in, but it widens the number of enforcers by giving State Attorney General’s the ability to file federal civil action for harmful disclosures of protected health information (PHI).

There are already cases of lawsuits underway for alleged HIPAA violations due to exposed or breached PHI, likely to end with heavy financial compensation payments being ordered.

Some Good News…

Like all things in life there’s usually a process to follow and HIPAA and HITECH are no different. The main headings that will need to be addressed are:

Administrative Safeguards – specifically written evidence of measures adopted to ensure compliance. Internal auditing, in particular, change management processes, approvals and documentation to provide evidence that systems and process is properly governed.

Physical Safeguards – including access controls, restrict and control access to equipment containing PHI information. This will include the use of Firewalls, Intrusion Protection technology and with particular focus on workstation, mobile/remote worker security

Technical Safeguards – Configuration ‘hardening’, to ensure that known threats and vulnerabilities are eliminated from all systems with a zealous patch management process combined with anti-virus technology, regularly tested and verified as secure. Strong monitoring for security incidents and events, with all event logs being securely retained is also a key measure to safeguard IT system security.

In fact, the scope of the standard is quite similar in respect of its approach and its measures to the PCIDSS (The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), which is another security standard all healthcare providers will now be familiar with. The PCIDSS is concerned with the secure governance of Payment Card data, and any ‘card merchant’ i.e. an organization handling payment card transactions.
Therefore, it makes sense to consider measures for HIPAA compliance in the context of PCIDSS also, since the same technology that helps deliver HIPAA compliance should be relevant for PCIDSS. Or to put it another way – compliance with one will significantly assist compliance with the other.

What do you need to do as an IT Service Provider to your Organization?

A number of automated ‘compliance auditing’ solutions are available that typically provide the following functions:

Compliance Auditing (AKA Device Hardening) – typically, ‘out of the box’ as well as ‘made to order’ reports allow you to quickly test critical security settings for servers & desktops, network devices and firewalls. The best solutions will provide details on your administrative procedures, technical data, security services, and technical security mechanisms. Generally, these reports will probably identify some security gaps to begin with. Once repaired though, you can generate these reports again to prove to auditors that your servers are compliant. Using inbuilt change tracking you can ensure systems remains compliant.

Change Tracking – once your firewalls, servers, workstations, switches, routers etc are all in a compliant state you need to ensure they remain so. The only way to do this is to routinely verify the configuration settings have not changed because unplanned, undocumented changes will always be made while somebody has the admin rights to do so! We will alert when any unplanned changes are detected to the firewall, or any other network device within your ‘Compliant Infrastructure’.

Planned Change Audit Trail – when changes do need to be made to a device then you need to ensure that changes are approved and documented – we make this easy and straightforward, reconciling all changes made with the RFC or Change Approval record.

Device ‘Hardening’ must be enforced and audited. A good compliance auditing solution will provide automated templates for a hardened (secured & compliant) configuration for servers, desktops and network devices to show where work is needed to get compliant, and thereafter, will track all planned and unplanned changes that affect the hardened status of your infrastructure. The state of the art in compliance auditing software covers registry keys and values, file integrity, service and process whitelisting/blacklisting, user accounts, installed software, patches, access rights, password ageing and much more.

Event Log Management – All event logs from all devices must be analyzed, filtered, correlated and escalated appropriately. Event log messages must be stored in a secure, integrity-assured repository for the required retention period for any governance policy.

Correlation of Security Information & Audit Logs – in addition, you should implement Log Gathering from all devices with correlation capabilities for security event signature identification and powerful ‘mining’ and analysis capabilities. This provides a complete ‘compliance safety net’ to ensure, for example to name just a few, virus updates complete successfully, host intrusion protection is enabled at all times, firewall rules are not changed, user accounts , rights and permissions are not changed without permission.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com ABOUT THE AUTHOR: All NewNetTechnologies software solutions are built using the latest technology, which means they can be fully adapted to suit all business environments. For more information on HIPAA compliance view our software solutions on www.newnettechnologies.com which provide 100% of the features you need but at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.

HOLIDAY SPENDING

Many people feel stressed out over the holidays due to financial constraints and depression. It is the time of year that brings memories of the past. Those who have lost loved ones may feel especially down at Christmas.

We at Meditec wish you and your family a very blessed holiday season. These are some ideas to keep holiday spending in control and to lift your spirits:

Spending:

• Try to avoid the use of credit cards to pay for gifts.
• Plan to stick within your gift-giving budget.
• Inexpensive heartfelt gifts are sometimes the very best. Think of baked items served in pretty holiday tins. Making a loved one a cookbook with recipes you’ve found online and have bound in a pretty binder for them. Handmade items like slippers, scarves, Christmas ornaments, etc are always appreciated.
• If you have a very large family, maybe suggesting picking names for gift giving would assist all family members to feel less stressed out.
• Set limits with your children. Help them to understand the true meaning of the holiday.
• Buy simple heartfelt gifts.
• Use dollar stores.
• Candles, comfy slippers, warm gloves- are all great Christmas gift ideas.

Depression:

• Allow yourself to process through your feelings.
• Spend time with friends or relatives.
• Visit a nursing home and bring some magazines or holiday baked items to share.
• Visit an animal shelter and bring treats for the homeless animals
• Volunteer some time at a local homeless shelter or domestic violence shelter. Cheering someone else up is a sure way to make yourself feel better.
• If you are feeling lonely, plan some activities during the holiday season. Go see a good movie, or rent some comedies to watch.
• Now is the perfect time to adopt a pet from the pound. You’d be saving a life and would have a lifelong friend!
• Reach out to others. Talk about how you are feeling.
• Find a group to join: local church, local book club at your public library, an exercise group.

Remember, the true meaning of the holiday has little to do with going broke. So, keep the gifts small and simple, and put the joy back into Christmas. Focus on friends, family, doing something for others. It’s not about how much you spend. Also, look around you for those who seem alone, and invite them to celebrate the holiday with you.

Meditec has started weekly “office hours” with our instructors. These are available via our online classroom to respond to questions for the following programs: Medical Transcription Medical Coding Medical Billing Paralegal Legal Transcription Get your questions answered in real time by one of our qualified and experienced instructors.

INTERESTING WEB SITES

Medical transcriptionists, medical coders, medical billers, and paralegals all use the Internet at times for research. When we find an interesting website, we will list it here. It is suggested that Meditec students and new graduates keep an organized list of reference links in a MS Word document or Excel file for easy and quick access.

http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz4508452c228.html Fun Medical Terminology Quizzes!

RECIPE FOR DECEMBER

Six Cup Salad

1 cup drained pineapple chunks
1 cup maraschino cherries
1 cup mandarin oranges drained
1 cup sour cream
1 cup marshmallows
1 cup shredded coconut
Mix together. Chill in refrigerator for an hour before serving. If you want more, just add ½ to 1 cup to each ingredient. Enjoy!

HOLIDAY FUNNY
What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?

It’s Christmas, Eve!

Excerpted from: http://www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/jokes/christmasevejokes.htm

November 2010 Newsletter

Cross-Training: The Smart Choice
In an unsure economy having a multitude of employable skills is your best defense. Money in the bank means little if you lose your job and cannot find another. In a scenario such as this, you would likely see all of your savings drain away quickly. Cross-training from medical transcription into medical coding and billing is a smart choice. Whereas there are plenty of MT jobs available, it is still a wise choice to expand your career options. Also, if you wanted to set up your own business and obtain several MT clients, you could also do their coding/billing if you had the proper training. Therefore, you’d maximize your income potential. Medical coding and billing is a natural extension of medical transcription. After the medical record has been created through MT, it is then coded and billed. Medical transcriptionists find it as an easy transition from MT to coding and billing. Many of Meditec’s MT students come back to us for training in coding/billing. It gives them more career flexibility, more options, and more security.

Another great cross-training option is from medical transcription into legal transcription. Most MTs work at home, and are independent contractors. It makes sense to expand your skill set into legal transcription because it gives you the option to also pick up extra work in that field. Learning legal transcription is not as intensive as learning MT. In fact, the Meditec LT program can be completed in as little as 3 months. The program begins with an overview of each area of law speciality, then moves into how to format documents, and then dictation practice. As an independent contractor, cross-training from MT into LT is a wise choice because many transcription services are now bringing on medical transcription clients, legal clients, and general transcription clients. So, it makes sense to expand your skill set.

Meditec offers returning students a 25% discount off any second program they’d like to take. If you are interested in one of our programs, please write to us asking for your FREE career guide. Info@meditec.com

Medical Billing is the Fastest Growing Opportunity in Health Care

On February 16, 2006, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was finalized, and enacted. This law is designed to establish national standards for all health care transactions, and to ensure the security and privacy of all health related information. The motivation behind this law is to improve the performance and efficiency of our health care system. This type of reform has created a need for qualified individuals who can utilize the tools of this legislation, and assure full compliance, and maximum reimbursement. It would therefore be a prudent move for health care facilities to employ such individuals in order to avoid mistakes that could have dire consequences.

The proliferation of medical knowledge following World War II brought about an explosion of diagnostic, and treatment procedures. As a result, there became a need to organize and standardize all these developing technologies. Here is where the foundations of medical coding were born. Medical coding met these challenges, and allowed for a more uniform way of communicating health information under a common language. By January 1979, standardized definitions and codes were adopted and used by health care providers and insurance companies. Since improvements and refinements of medical procedures are constantly being developed, codes must be added and updated to reflect these changes. Today, the number of medical and surgical procedures have become enormous, so too have the codes to describe them. These overwhelming numbers of codes and protocols have made outsourcing medical billing the standard.

Medical Billing and related occupations continue to be the fastest growing opportunities in health care. Insurance institutions and government agencies are investing huge resources to control claims’ fraud, abuse, and establish some degree of reimbursement parity. As a result, more insurance companies, and health care facilities are looking to medical billing experts for help. These companies and practices are looking for experienced and educated individuals – the legal consequences of incorrect billing could be devastating. There is a movement in the industry to make medical billers responsible for inaccuracies, much the way accountants are for tax returns.

At present, there are no standards for educational requirements for medical billers and coders. However, more employers are looking for some formal training at an accredited career training institution. These schools range in training time from nine months to two years – anything less would not be considered adequate. There is a move for certification, and several organizations are sponsoring certification examinations in medical billing and coding. Medical billers and coders earn as much as $8 to $10 per hour in the beginning, and could potentially realize $30 to $40 per hours with experience and additional responsibilities.

Today, evolutions in the health care industry are happening at a very high pace. It is only with the assistance of sophisticated computer programs, and standardized coding procedures that medical coders are now able to describe and characterize the tremendous number and various kinds of medical and surgical procedures. These realities coupled with government regulations and health insurance guidelines have contributed to the strong demand for experienced medical coders and billers.

Source: http://www.articlecircle.com/ – Free Articles Directory/About the Author: Jay B Stockman is a contributing editor for Medical Billing Resource. Visit http://all-medical-billing-software.com/ for more information.

Thanksgiving Traditions: Nine Ideas for Families

Celebrate family and togetherness this Thanksgiving Day with some time-honored traditions, which give us a sense of family identity and meaningfulness that can last for generations.

Here are nine ideas for starting new family traditions, and for revering the old ones:

1. Sit down with your family and reminisce about your childhood celebrations. What do you remember most about Thanksgiving and the days that follow? Thanksgiving traditions can be much more than just food and recipes. In what ways did your childhood traditions symbolize particular values, such as abundance, generosity, the importance of family? What would you like to do that is the same? What would you do like to do differently?

2. Make a small booklet or a mini scrapbook album (which you can either make or purchase.) Write “Five Things I Love About My Family and Friends” and keep it out on the table during your Thanksgiving celebration. Each guest can come and record thoughts and insights. Other themes to try: “Five Things I am Thankful For” or “Five Wishes for my Family and Friends.” An even simpler approach would be to put one sheet of cardstock out for each year, and combine them together over the years in a Thanksgiving Gratitude Scrapbook.

3. Keep a Family Gratitude Journal throughout the year. Each night, a family member can share something that they are grateful for. Share the highlights of this family tradition at the dinner table on Thanksgiving Day.

4. Make a Gratitude Circle. Before the Thanksgiving meal, everyone stands and holds hands in a circle. Guests each take a turn sharing what they are grateful for. Or, if your guests are on the shy side, ask everyone to write down their blessings on a piece of paper, which you can read before or after dinner.

5. Designate a particular tablecloth for your family Thanksgiving celebrations. Provide fabric markers where guests can record their “gratitudes” or special prayers for the year ahead. Ask your guests to sign and date each message, as you will be using the same tablecloth year after year.

6. Involve the entire family in Thanksgiving decorations. Family Fun magazine posts lots of creative ideas for the entire family at familyfun.go.com

7. Make a hostess gift for the person who is cooking this year. Purchase an apron or a T shirt or a gift album with sentiments of thanks from each guest. Present the gift after dinner.

8. Show your gratitude to an unsung hero. Get together with your family and decide on a person or a group in your community who could use an extra pat on the back, i.e. firefighters, soldiers, police officers, volunteers. Put together a special plate of goodies and deliver it (or pack it up for shipping) as a family.

9. Preserve your traditions. After the meal, record the favorite activities of each family member. Appoint one person to be the scribe, or ask everyone to jot down a few thoughts. Remember to take lots of photos. It is fun to place disposable cameras throughout the house so everyone can capture bits of the action.

Source: http://www.articlecircle.com/ – Free Articles Directory/ About the Author: Susie Cortright is the founder of http://www.momscape.com and http://www.Susies-Coupons.com, where she hand-picks only the very best online coupons and products, including coupons for children’s clothing: http://www.susies-coupons.com/children.htm

HOLIDAY POEM

Thanksgiving”
The year has turned its circle,
The seasons come and go.
The harvest all is gathered in
And chilly north winds blow.
Orchards have shared their treasures,
The fields, their yellow grain,
So open wide the doorway~
Thanksgiving comes again!—Unknown

From: http://www.mahalo.com/thanksgiving-poems

Meditec has started weekly “office hours” with our instructors. These are available via our online classroom to respond to questions for the following programs: Medical Transcription Medical Coding Medical Billing Paralegal Legal Transcription Get your questions answered in real time by one of our qualified and experienced instructors.

INTERESTING WEB SITES

Medical transcriptionists, medical coders, medical billers, and paralegals all use the Internet at times for research. When we find an interesting website, we will list it here. It is suggested that Meditec students and new graduates keep an organized list of reference links in a MS Word document or Excel file for easy and quick access.

http://www.anatomyarcade.com/ – Fun online anatomy games. Enjoy!

Recipe for November

Ingredients:
2- cans of Ocean Spray whole cranberries
1 can mandarin oranges drained.

Instructions: Combine the above ingredients. Use a sharp knife to cut the oranges into smaller bits. Stir together well.

POSITIVE THOUGHTS FOR NOVEMBER

“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today,
and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
Melody Beattie

Excerpted from: http://www.wow4u.com/qthankfulness/index.html