AHIMA Attendees Soak Up the Knowledge, Gain Valuable Radiology Coding Tips

It may be one of the nation's rainiest cities, but HRS helped AHIMA (American Health Information Management Association) attendees soak up knowledge, not rainfall, at the 2008 Convention in Seattle!

Held October 12 - 15, the convention proved to be a great success for HRS, attendees, AHIMA and everyone involved. In addition to leading an educational workshop on Sunday, October 12, HRS also held in-booth educational mini-sessions on radiology coding throughout the conference. Mini-session topics addressed such timely topics as medical necessity, the use of "V" codes in radiology, and more. Abstracts are available on the HRS web site.

We were pleased to see that these topics were so relevant - the turnout and feedback was great! Thanks to our team and clients for making AHIMA a success.

Exclusive Radiology Coding Survey Results Are In - Read All About It!

HRS recently partnered with AHIMA and its Foundation on Research and Education (FORE) to help us better understand the radiology coding needs of hospitals, imaging centers and radiology departments. Through a Web-based survey, we were able to gain valuable insights about the industry's radiology coding challenges. Here are just a few of the insights we gained:

• 73% of survey participants have responsibility - in whole or part - for radiology coding
• Productivity standards ranged from seven cases per hour for interventional radiology cases to 31 cases per hour for diagnostic exams
• Survey participants identified their top five radiology coding challenges. Two were lack of physician documentation and keeping up with payer rules.

HRS Gives the "Who, What, Why and When" at AHRA Annual Meeting

AHRA's 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition will be held August 9 - 13 in the sunny and glitzy city of Las Vegas! More than 1,000 imaging leaders will attend this premier educational event with dozens of educational sessions addressing radiology communication and technology, finance, human resources and operations.

HRS is honored to be a presenter at this event, with Gerri Walk, RHIA, CCS-P, and Marty Auster, MD, MBA, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, conducting two 90-minute sessions titled, "The Who, What, Why and When of Medical Necessity Denials."

HRS' presentation will review the most common reasons for denied claims due to missed medical necessity and provide recommendations on how to improve revenue outcomes. Stay tuned for more information - we hope to see you there!

More Radiology Tips…Delivered Right to Your Inbox!

We're expanding one of our most popular newsletter features, our Radiology Coding Tips, with a specialized “Tip of the Month” e-mail that will be delivered to our subscribers' inboxes beginning in March.

You'll receive these brief, but information-packed, tips as part of your newsletter subscription. Please sign-up to keep your subscription current. Also, consider sharing this newsletter with a friend by forwarding this e-mail to him or her.