From the March 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
There are solutions available that can automate these processes and ensure data integrity. They work by guiding physicians along procedure-specific documentation paths and automating data capture and reporting, resulting in increased reporting efficiencies and a significant decrease in instances of human error that can lead to incomplete documentation and incorrect coding.
The intuitive documentation processes created by structured reporting software also allow many of the required quality elements to be collected directly from procedure notes, eliminating the need for duplicate data entry. Software interfaces are also capable of gathering information from devices and other IT systems, further streamlining quality reporting.
Here to stay
The role of quality reporting in cardiovascular services will continue to expand, impacting outcomes, compliance and revenues. By automating cumbersome and error-prone manual data capture, analysis and reporting through adoption of structured reporting, these organizations will benefit not only from streamlined compliance, but also from the improved clinical outcomes and solid financial footing that accompanies successful participation in MACRA/MIPS and a plethora of other performance-based initiatives.
About the author: Michael McMurtry, M.D., is director, clinical development & informatics for ProVation Medical, which is part of Wolters Kluwer. He manages medical content development and programs medical content for software used by physicians for procedure documentation and for coding to support reimbursement.Back to HCB News
