The EHR Interoperability Disincentive
“If you bring her to our urgent care, we’ll be able to see what was done in her record,” the pediatric R.N. told me with a winning smile when I’d asked what to do if my 3-year-old’s urinary tract infection wasn’t better by the following day, a weekend.
It was a subtle and winning bit of patient steerage that I’d run into many times before, both personally and when dealing with health issues for my children. There is an urgent care office just blocks from our home, but when ill, my
Notes from the RBMA Exhibit Floor: ICD-10
On October 1, 2013, CMS will flip the switch on ICD-10, and health care providers of all stripes will be required to submit claims to CMS using the new code-set-on-steroids. The number of diagnostic codes will multiply from 16,000 to 69,000; procedure codes will increase from 3,800 to 72,000. Every aspect of clinical and business operations will be affected.
Where better to get a sense of readiness and outlook than on the exhibit floor of the RBMA Spring Summit in New Orleans, June 5–8?
ICD-10 codes are alphanumeric and longer than ICD-9 codes, so before the big 2013 deadline, we have another
Changing the Conversation
An interesting op-ed in today’s LA Times claims to make “the case for rationing healthcare.” But the author’s real case is to be found near the end:
“How might we ‘bend the curve’ of rising costs without forcing doctors to break with Hippocratic ideals? Percentage points can be trimmed by better coordinating care and providing it more efficiently. But the main driver behind rising costs is indiscriminate adoption of new technology. We must make it much harder for high-cost clinical wizardry to become part of our expectations. We should distinguish between decisive advances . . .
