When I tell people that I am a Nurse Informaticist, confusion and curiosity usually ensues. Nursing informatics, as defined by the American Nursing Association (ANA), is “a specialty that integrates […]

We know that being more specific in coding can affect and potentially increase reimbursement depending on the type of visit and conditions. Today, however, I would like to focus on another aspect of being more specific—tracking conditions which enables […]

Recently a colleague sent me a link to an article in the The New Yorker magazine titled “Tell Me Where It Hurts.” The article, written by Atul Guwande, surgeon and public-health researcher, is about using incremental care in medicine. Instead of jumping to treat the symptoms, incremental care […]

The digital age has created more noise than useful information. This is especially true in health care, where the quantity of electronic health information has exploded over the past decade. […]

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) can save a person’s life when they detect a dangerous heart rhythm and correct it by delivering a shock to the heart. For another person it might […]

Over our last few posts, fellow blogger Clarissa George and I have been exploring unspecified coding. It’s been interesting to pick apart this problem. Unspecified coding isn’t new and sometimes […]

Value-based purchasing and population health management are supposed to change aspects of the relationship between insurers (health plans) and providers (accountable care organizations, health systems, etc).  New contracts are supposed […]

When coders say “coding is an art,” they don’t mean art—they don’t imagine themselves creating little medical record haiku. Describing coding as an art is a way of saying that […]

At the AHIP conference last week, Bernard Tyson, CEO of Kaiser Permanente, spoke forcefully about health equity during a panel session. “We need to rethink the best way to provide […]

I’m often asked by health system leadership “How do we improve X?” where X is a specific quality or utilization metric.  This blog is a description of one (not the […]

The 3M Client Experience Summit this year is a combination science fair and storytelling festival for healthcare professionals. In all the best ways. There is an actual science fair of […]

So I typically have a tune stuck in my head and when thinking about my recent quality projects, the “song” that keeps popping up is to “get granular” (flashback to […]