AMIA Retrospective

By: Richard Wolniewicz

AMIA 2011 has wrapped up, with a very strong NLP track throughout the conference. This reflects the growing prevalence of NLP applications in our lives, from IBM Watson and Apple’s Siri to emerging Healthcare applications such as CAC (computer-assisted coding). This trend is only likely to continue as the technology improves.

I was particularly impressed with Leonard D’Avolio’s presentation of the Automated Retrieval Console (ARC). ARC provides a quick setup for bootstrapping a NLP classifier based on cTAKES and machine learning from your specific data set.

ICD-10 Scare Tactics

By: Ron Mills

At AHIMA earlier this month, I kept seeing and hearing assertions that went something like this:

Because ICD-10 is so much more complex and demanding, your coder productivity is going to drop dramatically (requiring you to add coders or lose revenue) unless you buy [the speaker’s] new coding technology.

I’m all in favor of technology that improves the accuracy, reduces the cost, or diminishes the tedium of coding. But the statement that ICD-10 is so much more complex and demanding is just not true.

Worse, it is becoming the dominant meme. People who have never opened a code book hear it, believe it, and pass it on. Pretty soon it is echoing down the corridors of power and we start getting rumbles again about putting off the conversion. Puh-leeze. This has got to stop.

Let’s examine the facts. Start with diagnoses. Open an ICD-9-CM code book and an ICD-10-CM code book and put them side by side.

God Bless the OIG

By: Barbara Aubry

Last week I read a report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) to Donald Berwick, MD about two Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) audits they completed on Medicare contractors. The first was a review of Palmetto GBA (Jurisdiction 11) for dates of service January 1, 2006 through June 30, 2009.

And the second report to Dr. Berwick concerned an audit they performed on National Government Services (NGS), the Jurisdiction 13 MAC for the same dates of service.

The bottom line; both Palmetto and NGS made incorrect overpayments for OPPS services.

Why Change? Process Improvement, Strategic Planning, and Healthcare Reform

By: Jill Devrick

“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.”  –W. Edwards Deming

W. Edwards Deming was a statistician and quality management consultant who developed the “Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)” cycle of process improvement.  Most organizations are good about task completion, evaluation, and then acting (or reacting) to the results.  However, I think planning is one of the areas of technology change that often gets shortchanged, so I’d like to explore the “P” in PDCA. Because as Deming also said:

“It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best.”

 So, how do we figure out what to do? It all starts with having a mission and vision.

To Physicians: Some Non-Hype About ICD-10

Dear Physicians,

After witnessing several years of vehement opposition to ICD-10 by organizations who serve the physician community, I am forced to come to the conclusion that those who claim to be looking out for you are not doing such a hot job when it comes to ICD-10. They are exaggerating the magnitude of the change and the cost it will be to your practice. Contrary to popular rhetoric, ICD-10 is not a conspiracy to put you out of business. It is simply an upgrade, and it need not be more disruptive than any other software upgrade. Here are a few reasons why.

Technology Transitions: Attitude is Everything

By: Jill Devrick

Your approach to change influences the ultimate success of every technology transition, and can even influence subsequent changes if handled well. Ultimately, change should be greeted with:

An attitude of opportunity. “This change enables employee cross-training and puts us in a position to go after new business.”