Outpatient Facility Coding Alert - 2010 Issue 16
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS: Keep These EHR Issues At Top-of-Mind to Ensure You're Staying Compliant
Subscribe or sign in to view the full article.
Article Overview
This article explains common compliance issues practices should watch when adopting electronic health records. It focuses on documentation consistency, the risks of over-reliance on templates and copied content, staff training, and questions to ask vendors about meeting federal meaningful-use standards. It is aimed at medical practices, billers, coders, and office managers evaluating EHR workflows and compliance readiness.
Why This Topic Matters
EHR workflow problems can create inconsistent documentation and compliance risk, while vendor and implementation choices can affect a practice’s ability to meet federal program requirements.
Article Sections
-
EHR templates and copied chart content
Discusses how chart templates and carry-forward features can affect documentation quality. The section focuses on workflow concerns and the need for staff awareness during EHR use.
-
Training and documentation consistency
Explains the importance of training clinicians on how the system functions and on what information should be reviewed or updated in follow-up notes. The section centers on avoiding contradictory or incomplete documentation.
-
Meaningful use and vendor questions
Covers federal EHR incentive context and the need to evaluate whether a system is positioned to meet evolving certification expectations. It also highlights general questions practices may want to raise with vendors.
What You Will Learn
- Why EHR templates and copied content can create documentation concerns
- How staff training affects the consistency of EHR notes
- What general issues to consider when evaluating EHR vendor readiness
- How federal meaningful-use requirements relate to EHR adoption
Who Should Read This
- Medical practice administrators
- Coders
- Billers
- Revenue cycle staff
- Clinical documentation staff
- Physicians
- EHR decision-makers
Subscribe or sign in to view the full article.


Quick, Current, Complete - www.findacode.com