Benefits – and risks – weighed in the expansion of telemedicine Telemedicine is here; it’s expanding; and it has great potential. But the medical profession and healthcare industry needs to balance its benefits against its risks for patients. “Telemedicine – the use of technology to deliver care at a distance – is rapidly expanding and holds the potential to improve … [Read more...]

By Beth Gibson It has been two years since the passing of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s regulation for Unique Device Identification (UDI), and while the labeling requirement for Class III medical devices has long passed (Sept. 24, 2014), a second deadline has placed tremendous pressure on medical device manufacturers and distributors. By Sept. 24, 2015, all … [Read more...]

New diagnostic codes apply to long-term care providers Diagnostic coding can be complicated in hospital settings. It can be even more so in long-term care facilities. Nevertheless, it’s a requirement for your long-term care customers, and with the recent switch to ICD-10-CM coding, it’s more important than ever that they understand the role and importance of these codes and … [Read more...]

Healthcare providers weren’t the only ones trying to get their coding house in order prior to the Oct. 1 implementation date for ICD-10. EHR vendors were hard as work as well. “The transition to the new ICD-10 set of diagnosis and medical procedure codes marks a monumental change across the healthcare industry,” said Shivani Mishra, senior product marketing associate, … [Read more...]

CHRISTUS Health consists of more than 60 acute care and non-acute care sites across U.S. and Latin American operations, including Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Mexico, and Chile; 4,500 beds; $1.3 billion in supplies, drugs and purchased services; spend is managed by CHRISTUS Health supply chain management. In December 2011, Ed Hardin left his position at ROi, a subsidiary of … [Read more...]

Linda Rouse O’Neill Long awaited proposed lab rule prohibits most from reporting In late September, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the annual Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) proposed rule, which provides the first glimpse into the agency’s thinking on what labs should report private payer data to CMS. Per the Protecting Access to … [Read more...]

How to get ahead of customer price objections Elizabeth Hilla Last month, this column talked about the time and money healthcare providers may be wasting when they shop for medical supply or equipment discounts on their own. Let’s face it: a top priority for anyone is to save money, but this can easily cloud your customer’s better judgment if they are only focusing on … [Read more...]