Health information managers are evaluating how multiple provisions in health reform legislation will affect their business practices, HealthLeaders Media reports.
Under reform, HHS will be responsible for evaluating and reporting on the ways small health care providers can increase their use of electronic health records. The resulting reports could include recommendations for:
- Additional legislation to raise funding for EHR adoption;
- Higher reimbursement rates or incentives for small providers to use EHRs; and
- Assistance with training, education and implementation of EHRs for providers.
Also, a health reform provision will allow the HHS secretary to issue a uniform guide for easier and faster updating of HIPAA transaction code sets, according to Dan Rode, vice president of policy and government relations for the American Health Information Management Association. Rode said the provision would be beneficial from an HIM standpoint.
Indirectly, the legislation will affect HIM departments by increasing the sheer volume of their workload, as more U.S. residents gain access to care. The result will be more coding, requests for data, insurance companies to work with and transcription, according to HealthLeaders Media.
Provisions cracking down on fraud and abuse in the health care system also could increase the workload for HIM departments. However, it remains unclear if new funding in the law will cause the hiring of new auditors or merely increase the volume of those already employed (Kraynack, HealthLeaders Media, 3/25).