Surgical Pathology Error

Numerous providers have reported an issue when trying to open the Surgical Pathology Reports from Flowsheets.   When attempting to open the report it will freeze and then you will receive a couple of error messages and cannot proceed to view the report.  (See Screenshot below).  The workaround is to log out and back in and then you should be able to view the report.  If you are still cannot access the report after this, please call the Physician Concierge Help line @ 806-775-8255 for assistance.

The Clinical IT department has been diligently working with Cerner to provide a fix. Thank you for your patience as we work to provide a solution.

Discharge Planning: Social Services

New Order Available for Discharge Planning Evaluation by Social Services

If you feel your patient requires assistance with discharge planning you are now able to request an evaluation by placing a Discharge Planning Evaluation by Social Services order in PowerChart.

Per Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)...

“Unless the hospital has adopted a voluntary policy of developing an evaluation for every inpatient, the hospital must also have a process for making patients, including the patient’s representative and attending physicians, aware that they may request a discharge planning evaluation and that the hospital will perform an evaluation upon request.”

ICD-10: It's Here! What to Expect

Nationwide, everybody is moving to ICD-10 on October 1st. Our site is a Physician Transition Early site. That means we started the ball rolling on September 24th.  

So how does this impact you as the healthcare provider?  These are the main issues that changed:

-  All remaining ICD-9 terms were removed from the Precompleted Notes/Macros

-  All ICD-9 terms removed from the Diagnosis, Problem, Allergy and Procedure Favorite folders

-  CV, Pulmonary, and EKG orders no longer require a Reason for Exam but a Diagnosis instead

 

 

 

So what else do you need to do?

* Finish up all old documentation such as unsigned notes. You are going to want (and need) a fresh

   start when the conversion takes place. You’ll be doing yourself a big favor by fixing this now.

* Diagnosis Assistant is a tool to help providers choose a more clinically relevant diagnosis as required

   by ICD-10.  This tool will continue to be available after October 1st.  It is not just a tool to use for

   conversion, but to use within your clinical workflow going forward as well.

* Seek help with remediation if you need it.  If you want or need any help with rebuilding anything or

   learning more about Diagnosis Assistant, call any of the HELP desks, UMC Concierge team, or attend

   one of the post-implementation ICD-10 fairs.

* Work with your department coders if you have any questions about which codes are best for your

   clinical needs.

 

 

 

Please call any of the HELP desks if you have any questions.

 Images Source: www.revenue360.net

ICD-10: Why Remediation? What's Happening?

There has been a lot of talk flying around about "remediation" and ICD-10.  If you've been following this website at all you probably have a pretty good idea about what that is.  If not, here it all is in a nutshell...

Nationwide, everybody is moving to ICD-10 on October 1st. Our site is a Physician Transition Early site. That means we are starting the ball rolling on September 24th.  

So how does this affect you as the healthcare provider?  These are the main issues that will change on the 24th:

-  All remaining ICD-9 terms will be removed from the Precompleted Notes/Macros

-  All ICD-9 terms removed from the Diagnosis, Problem, Allergy and Procedure Favorite folders

-  CV, Pulmonary, and EKG orders will no longer require a Reason for Exam but a Diagnosis instead


Please call any of the HELP desks if you have any questions.

 

ICD-10 Fair: Help Us to Help You

ICD-10 Fair: COME AND GO!

University Medical Center, Texas Tech Physicians, and Physician Network Services are happy to announce we are providing an ICD-10 Fair to help providers with PowerNote and Favorites remediation in preparation for the upcoming ICD-10 conversion. 

If you have any precompleted PowerNotes, saved Macros, or diagnosis Favorites, please take this time to come and let us help you remediate or YOU WILL BE IMPACTED after September 24th!!!

Location:

UMC McInturff Conference Center

Times:

This is a come-and-go time frame, not the whole two hours

Wednesday, September 9th 7AM – 9AM

Thursday, September 10th 3PM -5 PM

Wednesday, September 16th 2PM -4PM

Thursday, September 24th 7AM – 9AM

Refreshments will be provided

  

Please Note:  the newsletter is always your primary source of education and updates. Please help us spread the word.  In the weeks leading up to October 1st, you will receive weekly PUTTER newsletters specifically geared towards helping you with ICD-10 changes and issues.

 

Image Source: www.americanmedical.com

ICD-10 Defeat the Deadline

Another delay in ICD-10?  Survey results say "not likely".  A survey conducted by QualiTest with healthcare executives found that 83% expect the transition to proceed as planned (Medical Economics, 2015, p. 13).

SO! A great article from Medical Economics for your benefit.  It includes some tips for providers to further ready yourselves for October 1st. For those, doctors and nurses, that may have favorites saved that include ICD-9's, now is the time to start changing to ICD-10's and beat the rush!

Contact any of the HELP Desks if you need help!  If you are interested in getting your new codes for future use, you might contact the coders in your department for some help.

Source Image: Getty Images, 2015

Physician Readiness

"In most small or independent medical practices, physicians are likely selecting their own diagnosis codes for ICD-9 and will continue to do so for ICD-10. There is significant benefit to having coding happen as close to the point of origin as possible, meaning that the person who provides the care is usually best suited to code the encounter, says Whaley. However, clinicians who do their own coding may need more preparation than those who don’t.

Fortunately, physicians needn’t worry about memorizing all 68,000 codes or poring over every chapter of the codebook. Instead, experts recommend focusing on just the 50 to 100 codes a physician will use on a regular basis.

To do so, create a list of the top ICD-9 codes used in the practice, by provider, for the past 12 months, and compile a list of corresponding ICD-10 codes. While there are a few codes that are the one-to-one equivalent of each other, most ICD-9 codes will have multiple, more specific, ICD-10 codes with which to become familiar.

Once you narrow down the codes you’ll focus on, you can create tools such as cheat sheets, or load pick lists into your software to help physicians. Multiple training modalities exist, from webinars to on-site consulting to having your internal coders meet with doctors" (Beaulieu-Volk, 2015).

Outpatient PowerPlans - CODE STATUS

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please make sure the Code status has been filled out in the OPS PowerPlans

In the Outpatient PowerPlans, the orders for Code Status need to be addressed. 

There are two because they live in two different sub-phases. 

1. The OPS/OR Holding Pre-Op Orders 

This is the STAR assessment phase, so the Code Status of the patient coming into the facility.  This will lead to early morning calls from STAR nurses for orders if this is not completed in a timely fashion. 

2. OPS Post-OP Orders

These could be completed the day of surgery.  This is the code status leaving the hospital.

If the provider has not addressed the second code status in the clinic, they should be getting a call the day of surgery when the patient is sent home.


Proton Pump Inhibitor Orders

When a Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI) is ordered to be given by mouth or IV push in the inpatient, outpatient, or medication reconciliation settings, the ordering physician will be required to select the current diagnosis tied to the PPI.

*Approved Uses of PPI:

     GERD

     Healing of Erosive Esophagitis

     Healing of NSAID associated gastric ulcer

     Maintenance of healed duodenal ulcer

     NSAID Inducated Dyspepsia

     Pathologic hypersecretory conditions

     Prolonged mechanical ventilation

     Treatment of active PUD

     Treatment of H. pylori with antibiotics

     Trauma/Burn Critical Care

If a non-approved indication (i.e. stress ulcer prophylaxis/other) is selected, it will prompt for action:

     *Cancel PPI

     *Cancel and Replace with an H2 Antagonist (Famotidine)

     *Override and Place Order for PPI

This will be monitored to ensure that proper indications are selected.

Proton Pump Inhibitor Prompt