[Criteria for the assessment of the noise-induced occupational hearing loss: international and national standards]

The objective of the present paper was to review international and national standards for the criteria of assessment of the noise-induced occupational loss of hearing. The importance of healthy hearing for the occupational safety is emphasized which implies the necessity of the more rigorous criteria for hearing conservation in the workers engaged in the noisy technological environment compared with those for the general population. A rationale for the development of the standard program of hearing conservation in the workers engaged in the noisy technological environment is proposed including hygienic norms and rules or national state standards.

Evaluation of inpatient clinical documentation readiness for ICD-10-CM

This research study examined the gaps in documentation that occur when coding in ICD-10-CM. More than 4,000 diagnoses from all chapters were coded from 656 electronic documents obtained from a large integrated healthcare facility at the time the study was conducted (2012). After the documents were coded, areas for documentation improvement were identified for chapters that resulted in deficiencies in documentation, and a quick reference guide was developed. The overall absent documentation percentage was 15.4 percent. The 10 chapters with the highest percentage of absent documentation were chapter 7 (Diseases of Eye and Adnexa), with 67.65 percent (p < .001); chapter 8 (Diseases of Ear and Mastoid Process), with 63.64 percent (p < .001); chapter 13 (Diseases of the Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue), with 46.05 percent (p < .001); chapter 14 (Diseases of the Genitourinary System), with 40.29 percent (p < .001); chapter 10 (Diseases of Respiratory System), with 35.52 percent (p < .001); chapter 1 (Infectious and Parasitic Diseases), with 32.88 percent (p < .001); chapter 12 (Diseases of the Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue), with 32.35 percent (p < .001); chapter 2 (Neoplasms), with 25.45 percent (p < .001); chapter 4 (Endocrine, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases), with 14.58 percent (p < .001); and chapter 17 (Congenital Malformations, Deformations, and Chromosomal Abnormalities), with 12.50 percent. We addressed the deficient areas in the quick reference guide developed for clinicians and technology vendors. Having complete and accurate documentation would benefit both the clinician and the patient in providing the highest quality of care.

What's in a class? Lessons learnt from the ICD - SNOMED CT harmonisation

The upcoming ICD-11 will be harmonized with SNOMED CT via a common ontological layer (CO). We provide evidence for our hypothesis that this cannot be appropriately done by simple ontology alignment, due to diverging ontological commitment between the two terminology systems. Whereas the common ontology describes clinical situations, ICD-11 linearization codes are best to be interpreted as diagnostic statements. For the binding between ICD codes and classes from the ontological layer, a query-based approach is favoured.

ICD-10 means better documentation is a must

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has set Oct. 1, 2014, as the firm date for implementation of ICD-10. There is no grace period for implementation. All claims to any payer must use ICD-10 codes for medical diagnosis and inpatient procedures or they may be rejected and providers will have to resubmit them. The ICD-10 code set has more fields than ICD-9 and requires a more detailed level of documentation. Case managers need to understand what the new coding set means and how it will affect their work.

The wave As federal EHR incentives recede, the next surge in health IT spending begins to take shape

Presbyterian Intercommunity hospital, part of PHI Health, is on the leading edge of a new surge in healthcare information technology. The hospital's plans include setting up a data warehouse for patient records and a patient portal, which is seen as key to involving patients in their own care. "It's really about patient engagement," said Dr. Davis Lee of PIH Health, left. "There are benefits to get the patients to go online and communicate with providers."

[The international classification of functioning, disability and health as a tool for the scientifically grounded estimation of the effectiveness of medical rehabilitation]

The objective of the present study was to develop the approaches to the introduction of the international classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF) for the estimation of the initial conditions of the patients presenting with osteoarthrosis and the effectiveness of their medical rehabilitation. The knee joint function, the structure of the lower extremity and its functional activity were studied in 36 patients for the quantitative representation of these characteristics in terms of ICF with the subsequent assessment of the structure of the patients' rehabilitative profile and the effectiveness of their medical rehabilitation. The study demonstrated positive dynamics of all the three positive components of the state of the treated patients (function, structure, activity) especially well pronounced in the categories of functional activity. It is concluded that the international classification of functioning, disability and health may be sued as an adequate instrument for the scientifically grounded estimation of the effectiveness of medical rehabilitation.