DOD, VA inspectors find new EHRs are incomplete

 A joint report from the inspectors general of the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs says the Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization Office has neither taken an active role nor developed and implemented a plan to ensure health records are complete, include information from medical devices or have proper user access protections. The FEHRM Program Office should develop processes and procedures, determine what constitutes a complete EHR, and put forth plans for migrating patient data from legacy records, creating interfaces for the automatic transfer of data from medical devices to EHRs, and ensuring that EHR user access is limited only to the patient data necessary to the job.Full Story: Healthcare IT News (5/6) 

New VA EHR system has had 50-plus outages in 2 years

The Department of Veterans Affairs' new EHR system, launched in 2020, has had 42 "unplanned degradations" and eight "unplanned outages" as of April 20, according to VA spokesperson Randal Noller, plus two more outages April 25 and 26, but Noller said most of the outages have been minor and limited in scope. The VA is transitioning its legacy EHR system, VistA, to a platform from Cerner, and Noller said, "VA and Cerner employ an extensive incident management protocol to ensure users can continue to provide quick, safe and effective care" in the event of an outage.Full Story: The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.) (tiered subscription model) (5/8) 

Education on new diagnosis codes is key to accuracy

The CMS proposed 1,176 new diagnosis codes along with the Proposed Rule for the Inpatient Prospective Payment System, and coding professionals should be learning about the new codes, which are expected to be finalized in June, writes AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer Laurie Johnson. Review the list and note complication/comorbidity status, ascertain the potential frequency of use, note potential effects on facility-specific guidelines, and refer to the materials on the Coordination and Maintenance Committee website, Johnson suggests.Full Story: ICD10Monitor (5/8) 

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