The Wall St. Journal in a recent article by Stephen Soumerai and Ross Koppel stated that CMS is very focused on reducing rates of readmission of Medicare/Medicaid patients.

Wellington, FL -- (SBWire) -- 05/09/2013 --The Wall St. Journal in a recent article by Stephen Soumerai and Ross Koppel stated that CMS is very focused on reducing rates of readmission of Medicare/Medicaid patients. These findings along with the changes in hospital billing and penalties applied under the Affordable Care Act are now published on the Health Systems Management Network, Inc (HSMN) website.

Findings from the Wall Street Journal article include the following conclusions:

1) Research shows that most readmissions can’t be prevented;
2) Readmission penalties which will be 1%-3% starting in 2015 will incentivize hospitals to keep patients in the emergency room rather than admit;
3) There will be a temptation to change the coding for patients that are readmitted to indicate that they were not admitted with the same Dx or infection;
4) Hospitals serving poor communities will be severely hurt financially.

The authors of this article promote a team approach in which a physician and nurse practitioner can help manage patients better at home. However, if the patient must be readmitted HSMN’s own finding is that that clinical documentation does not always measure up to the need to support readmissions.

Under ICD-10-CM/PCS it will grow increasingly difficult to justify readmission if there is not a significant improvement to the clinical documentation supporting the readmission. Health Systems Management Network, Inc. has worked with many Medical staffs on clinical documentation in it’s almost 30 years of Consulting.

HSMN’s consulting engagements have been clinical documentation projects centered on both the clinical and coding staff. These client engagements have improved revenue and reduced denials by significant margins. In the new ICD-10-CM world significant improvements to both the quality of and the specificity are critical elements for revenue success. The new scenario requires such specificity that any omission will result in denial of payments and penalties to reimbursement.

HSMN has begun a “Start Ten Program” which focuses its efforts on the clinical documentation of the medical staff and its’ partnering with coders who must use both knowledge and critical thinking skills.

“Because of our vast experience in case management and utilization over the past 30 years we are coupling our Start Ten Program with our Patient Focused Clinical Documentation Improvement Program.”

The “program” has been developed with the help many of the best clinical minds in our country. The purpose of the Program is to focus the entire clinical team on patient problems/diagnoses with a view to integration and specificity required by ICD-10-CM. Clearly the integration of care would leave no doubt about the need for the current admission and its treatment and this must be reflected by the “Team” in its clinical documentation.

Health Systems Management Network, Inc. thus announces the “The Start Ten Program Plus”.

Please contact our offices 866-908-4226 or email info@hsmn.com for a consultation on how HSMN can be of service to your organization. This initial teleconference consultation is without cost.