17
Aug 13

Total Quality: It Starts with Great People

Diskriter Quality Metircs

Quality is often associated with processes, procedures, metrics and auditing, and these are important components to delivering quality results. At Diskriter, however, the foundation for our quality program begins and ends with our team of skilled, dedicated professionals – our people.

To ensure quality, we recruit and hire the best Medical Transcriptionists (MTs) Language Specialists in the business. Our team members must have a minimum three years of experience in their specialty. We conduct thorough testing of all candidates, including medical terminology, grammar, abbreviations, formatting and editing.

Once a person is hired, we provide them with ongoing training and support. We audit each team member’s work, not to focus on their mistakes, but to gain information we can use to continually help them improve in their role.

We have found that when you give people more authority, they are more satisfied in their job and perform better. Diskriter team members are provided the authority required to make the best decisions for our clients, to ensure we deliver a high quality result.

Diskriter encourages a team environment. Our staff members work together to solve problems and respond to client questions and concerns. Our team members know that if we truly focus on delivering quality products and services to our client, we will all succeed together.


17
Aug 13

Are You Ready for ICD-10?

As we in the healthcare business know, all healthcare providers must be fully converted to ICD-10 coding by October 2014.  There is no time out, no opting out, and no grace periods.

Despite this looming deadline, many providers are not following the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ timeline for conversion.  In fact, a recent survey has shown that one in five small to mid-size hospitals have not started any type of training or education program at their facilities. Another survey reports that most physician practices are not actively preparing for ICD-10.

What is causing providers to delay their ICD-10 planning? For many it is simply due to a lack of resources.  They are concerned about the loss of coding staff productivity and quality that will result from the planning process. Meanwhile, coders will be required to have enhanced clinical training and biomedical knowledge. This will require an education process that will also hamper productivity.

As a healthcare provider, what are some proactive steps you should take?

1)    Follow a formal ICD-10 Transition Plan and Activity List (see AHIMA plan as a guide) http://www.ahima.org/downloads/pdfs/resources/checklist.pdf

2)    Partner with a qualified vendor who has an established ICD-10 training program.

3)    Partner with a vendor to provide quality outsourced coding services to ensure no loss of productivity during the ICD-10 preparation and transition period.

4)    Consider adopting Computer-Assisted Coding (CAC) technology, which can improve quality, productivity and costs of coding in an ICD-10 environment.

 

By Chris Parfitt, RHIT, Executive Director of HIM Services.