Healthcare IT News - November 2007 - (Page 17) www.HealthcareITNews.com hOSpItaLS & IdNs November 2007 ■ Healthcare IT News 17 CArolINAS Continued from page 15 Report ranks top coding hospitals in nation By rICHArd PIzzI, Associate Editor CHS interfaced the digital image of the patient’s veins for the purpose of converting it into a number that correlated with the patient’s medical record in its patient registration database. When a patient’s palm is scanned, the number is put into the patient database, which then searches for a match. “When someone isn’t feeling well, the last thing they want to do is spend a significant amount of time filling out paperwork.” – Roger Ray, MD To narrow the results and cut down on time, the patient can give his/her last name or birth date. Burke explained that this process not only saves time, but also helps to make patients feel more secure because they become participants. “When someone isn’t feeling well, the last thing they want to do is spend a significant amount of time filling out paperwork – they want to receive care as quickly as possible,” said Roger Ray, MD, chief medical officer of CHS. “In the past, our registrars would input information and have to select the correct patient from a list of patients with similar names or birthdays. Palm scanning eliminates this process and zeroes in on the correct patient immediately.” PASS provides patients with a higher level of protection because of its uniqueness. Even identical twins have different vein patterns that set them apart, Burke said. “We don’t push it [PASS] on patients. It’s not a mandatory program, but we tell them we want them to do it for their safety,” he said. Patients at CHS are provided with information on the system and when they register they are asked to scan their right hand. PASS is deployed on laptops, which are placed on carts for increased mobility. Trauma patients who are pre-registered in the system can also be quickly identified upon arrival, even if unconscious. Research on the palm scanner continues to gather information on how the sensors will work in the event of growth, for example in a child’s hand or weight loss/gain, Burke explained. Currently the hospital has 200 hand scanners deployed at all points of patient entry in its acute care settings and 25,000 people enrolled, however Burke says that this number changes daily. CHS plans to soon deploy the scanner in its physician practice office and has a device in the works for bedside registration. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: CaroLINaS 1107 – Rural, urban and teaching hospitals are among the facilities named the top coding hospitals in the country. Ingenix, a healthcare IT company in Eden Prairie, Minn., released its fourth annual report Top 200 Coding Hospitals in the U.S. last month at the American Health Information Management Association National Convention here. PHILADELPHIA The report ranks hospitals by the completeness and accuracy of their medical coding practices used to bill Medicare for inpatient medical services. The four categories and the topranking hospital are: ■ Rural, non-teaching: Springfield Hospital, Springfield, Vt. ■ Urban, non-teaching: Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Fresno, Calif. ■ Minor teaching: Kaiser Found- ation Hospital, Panorama, Calif. ■ Major teaching: John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, Chicago. A total of 2,921 hospitals were included in the analysis and divided into four categories to account for variations in the populations served by the different types of hospitals. Ingenix used its Hospital Benchmarks.com software To compile the top 200 report and determine the rankings. “This year’s Top 200 report comes at a pivotal time for the industry as hospitals prepare for Medicare’s transition to a severity-adjusted reimbursement system that will substantially change coding practices,” said Stephen Greenberg, senior vice president in the Provider Solutions Group at Ingenix. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: CodING 1107 l l Top 20: 2006 Best in KLAS Report Card #8 Ranking Overall HIT #2 Ranking Overall Document Management & Imaging engage. empower. evolve.™ e l Connect: HyLaNd 1107 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.Benchmarks.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8040 http://www.onbase.com/healthcare http://www.onbase.com/healthcare http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8037 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=8087
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