Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), two departments within the U.S. Federal Government’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) provide the following guidelines for coding and reporting using the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision,…… Continue reading ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting – FY2021 (Updated January 1, 2021)

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare On December 10, 2020, HHS and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced “proposed changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule to support individuals’ engagement in their care, remove barriers to coordinated care, and reduce regulatory burdens on the health care…… Continue reading HHS Proposes Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The CDC has an updated visual resource to help you with Pneumococcal Vaccine Timing for Adults.  This is a 4-page resource that was updated June 25, 2020.  Here’s what the first and last pages look like: I encourage you to download/save/print this guidance for current and…… Continue reading Pneumococcal Vaccine Timing for Adults

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Late in the day December 1, 2020, CMS released a “flurry” of announcements impacting physicians, telehealth and therapists that you should be aware of.  A synopsis of these changes along with links to additional information is found in a Special Edition – MLN Connects with that…… Continue reading Permanent Expansion of Medicare Telehealth Services and Improved Payment for Time Doctors Spend with Patients

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Above you’ll see the logo for U.S. theme for this year’s World AIDS Day as well as the CDC World AIDS Day poster.  This day is observed each year on December 1, beginning in 1988.  “Today on World AIDS Day, we reflect both on the remarkable…… Continue reading World AIDS Day 2020

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare On November 20, 2020, CMS posted Transmittal 10469 for Medicare contractors to update the claims processing system with the new Calendar Year (CY) 2021 Medicare rates. This Recurring Update applies to Chapter 3, Sections 10.3, 20.2 and 20.6 of the Medicare General Information, Eligibility, and Entitlement…… Continue reading Update to Medicare Deductible, Coinsurance and Premium Rates for CY 2021

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Wednesday, November 18, kicks off U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week 2020 and CDC encourages you to get involved! Antibiotics can save lives and are critical tools for treating infections, including those that can lead to sepsis. However, any time antibiotics are used—in people, animals, or crops—they can…… Continue reading U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week (USAAW) 2020

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS will retire the original Compare Tools on December 1st. Use Medicare.gov’s Care Compare to find and compare health care providers. In early September, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released Care Compare on Medicare.gov, which streamlines our eight original health care compare tools.…… Continue reading CMS to Retire the Original Compare Tools on December 1st

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare This CDC toolkit is intended to assist post-acute and long-term care (LTC) facility owners and administrators with improving vaccination coverage among their healthcare personnel (HCP). The toolkit outlines the importance of influenza vaccination for HCP, provides strategies for increasing influenza vaccination coverage among HCP, and describes…… Continue reading Influenza Vaccination Among Healthcare Personnel

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The 2019 Profile of Older Americans is a very interesting read.   The report is 26 pages in length.  The Profile of Older Americans is an annual summary of critical statistics related to the older population in the United States. Relying primarily on data offered by the…… Continue reading 2019 Profile of Older Americans