A one year extension of Meaningful Use Stage 2 would maximize its potential for success, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) declared to senators in a May 6 letter.

When used correctly, EHRs produce more accurate documentation leading to more complete coding, and ultimately, more accurate reimbursement claims, according to Sue Bowman, senior director of coding policy and compliance of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).

This week’s developments include a proposed rule updating the inpatient prospective payment system, the first meeting of a federal patient safety group and a new effort to prevent the switch to ICD-10.

PORTLAND, Ore., May 1, 2013 -- Health care reform has resulted in some of the largest scale changes to the way health care is delivered and funded since the 1960s, providing unprecedented access, coverage and protections for American consumers. To help people better understand the variety of choices before them, Regence has launched a new website that is designed to help consumers and businesses navigate the new health care landscape.

A new bill would not require a transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 code sets. Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) introduced the bill dubbed the "Cutting Costly Codes Act of 2013."

Healthcare reforms focused on “person-centered care” are the best means to improve care and could save an estimated $300 billion in net federal savings during the next decade, or more than $1 trillion over 20 years, according to an April 2013 Brookings Institution's Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform report.

Hospitals and health systems nationwide are projecting a significant shift in 2013 admissions from inpatient to outpatient settings as they transition toward new care delivery models, according to the Premier healthcare alliance’s spring 2013 Economic Outlook.

The Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs and the Office of the National Coordinator on Health IT’s (ONC’s) certification programs are insufficient to achieve widespread interoperability and electronic information exchange necessary to achieve true healthcare reform, national multi-stakeholder healthcare organization eHealth Initiative (eHI) told the ONC and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in an April 22 letter.