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August 2013 >> $5
Middle Tennessee’s Primary Source for Professional Healthcare News
PHYSICIAN SPOTLIGHT PAGE 3
Matthew Rose, MD ON ROUNDS
Hamory Addresses Nashville Health Care Council Members Innovative Geisinger Health System Leader Shares Insights “Nashville is a hub of healthcare talent, and I’m glad to discuss pioneering changes that can be made to positively shape the future of care with leaders in this city,” Bruce Hamory, MD, said in opening his remarks to the audience at the Nashville Health Care Council luncheon on June 28 ... 7
You’ve Got (Secure) Mail State Expands Health eShare Direct Project after Successful Pilot As the nation’s healthcare delivery system moves toward integrated care models where teams of providers work in concert to keep patients well or restore them to health, having the ability to securely share information across care settings ... 13
New Techniques, Treatments for Lower Back Pain By CINDy SANDERS
Back pain plagues millions of Americans annually and is the leading cause of disability worldwide according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Global Burden of Disease 2010. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) reports that as many as 80 percent of Americans will experience back pain in their lifetime and nearly a quarter of the adult population reports one or more days of back pain in any given three-month period. To address one of the nation’s most prevalent health complaints, researchers look to new techniques, treatments and technologies to provide relief. Much of what has been debuted over the last few years has simply augmented the existing knowledge base. “The changes now seem to be more incremental than revolutionary,” noted L. Brett Babat, MD, a boardcertified orthopaedic surgeon with Premier Orthopaedics. He added the tweaks are geared to make procedures or equipment easier, safer, faster and more powerful. Babat is part of that movement. He recently sold a patent for a new iliac fixation device to Spine 360 to improve upon the large pedicle screws typically used. “When you do spine sur(CONTINUED ON PAGE 6)
ICD-10: Are You Ready? By BILL HEFLEy, MD
With the rapidly approaching ICD-10 ‘go live’ date of Oct. 1, 2014, medical practices should be well on their way in preparing for the transition. With implementation of ICD-10, physician offices accustomed to the 13,000 ICD-9 codes must be prepared to transition seamlessly to a new set of 68,000 codes. More specifically, a physician or billing clerk currently using ICD-9 to properly code the diagnosis of ‘patella fracture’ must choose between two possible codes … when utilizing ICD-10 that number explodes to 480 codes. Yes. Get ready. In 1992 the World Health Organization (WHO) published the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision. The U.S. made modifications to the WHO ICD-10 creating the ICD-10-CM (Clinical Modification) which is the diagnosis code set that will replace ICD-9-CM Volumes 1 and 2. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a regulation requiring the replacement of ICD-9 with ICD-10 and later pushed back the compliance date one year to Oct. 1, 2014. Farzad Mostashari, MD, the national coordinator for Healthcare Information Technology, asserted last month that there would be no extension of the deadline. While many physicians see the transition to ICD-10 as an unnecessary burden, other (CONTINUED ON PAGE 12)
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