ICD-10 Implementation Delays Costing Millions, says ICD 10 Proponents

ICD-10 Proponents Say Delay Costing Millions

 

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has howls coming from both sides of the fence after her agency announced that they would "initiate a process" to "examine the pace" of ICD-10's implementation—in effect, delaying the compliance date for ICD-10. 

The ICD-10 proponents—including quality leaders, providers, and vendors, as well as providers of medical billing and coding training—insist that ICD-10 should not be delayed, or at the very least, that the postponement be short-lived and limited in scope.

"Our stance is, we're opposed to any kind of delay," declared Sue Bowman, director of Coding Policy and Compliance for the 64,000-member American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). Bowman bewailed Sebelius’s seeming ignorance of the fact that "an enormous amount of money has been poured into this process [transition preparations] already by the healthcare industry—many, many millions." Now they will have to spend a lot more due to the delay.

Bowman pointed out that organization leaders had informed her that more money would now be spent because they would have to do things all over again, even relaunching new training programs. 

To bolster its position, AHIMA has sent out a survey to its members "to learn how much their organizations have already spent on ICD-10 and how much different lengths of delay would cost them additionally." 

Meditec.com, like other providers of online medical coding training—as well as medical transcription training and medical office assistant training—provides the coursework the medical coding community needs to be ready for ICD-10.

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OSHA Compliance Partners – Packers and Miron Construction for Lambeau Field Stadium Project

OSHA Partners with Packers and Miron Construction for Lambeau Field Stadium Improvement Project

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Wisconsin Occupational Safety and Health Consultation Program have partnered with the Green Bay Packers and Miron Construction Co., Inc. to zero in on an ongoing safety issue: to prevent serious injuries at the Lambeau Field Stadium Improvement Project in Green Bay.

Most employers today already require OSHA courses, such as OSHA 30 and 10 hour training (both online OSHA training), as hiring requirements to reduce worksite injuries, and strategic alliances like this go a long in enhancing safe work environments and conditions.

"This voluntary strategic partnership is focused on identifying and controlling safety hazards, improving safety and health programs, promoting a cooperative relationship between labor and management, and encouraging employee participation in achieving a safe and healthful workplace," said Frank Winingham, OSHA's area director in Appleton. He explained that the partnership plans to achieve its goals via more training, better implementation of best work practices, and of course adherence to OSHA standards.

The construction project, slated for completion in June 2013, involves some 1,200 tradespersons. The Wisconsin consultation program is funded by OSHA but operated by the state of Wisconsin. 

Wisconsin-based Miron Construction Co., Inc. will implement a site-specific safety and health program.

OSHACampus.com, an e-learning provider of 360training.com, provides OSHA training online coursework—such as OSHA 10, OSHA 30, and other OSHA classes—that constitutes essential training for keeping workers healthy and safe at the worksite.

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March 31, 2012 GA Cosmetology License Renewal Deadline

Calling all cosmetologists in Georgia! The Georgia cosmetology license renewal date of March 31, 2012 is coming up fast. If you have not yet renewed your GA cosmetology license, better make it soon.


The Georgia Board of Cosmetology, as with all cosmetology state boards today, mandates that every cosmetologist must be licensed to practice cosmetology in the state. The license must be renewed every two years. To do that the license holder is required to complete five hours of GA cosmetology continuing-education (CE) credit: three hours of health and safety courses developed by the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE), and two hours of other courses in health and safety or in a related area of practice such as industry trends, computer skills, or business management. The license holder can also substitute attendance in a trade/product show (duly registered with the state board) for the other courses to complete the remaining two hours.


The Georgia Board of Cosmetology does not conduct continuing-education classes; instead it provides a list of approved CE course providers (not all cosmetology schools in Georgia are on the list), from which the license holder can choose.


Cosmetologycampus.com, an approved cosmetology continuing education online provider and the cosmetology portal of e-learning hub 360training.com, offers a suite of 5-hour complete packages, each one fully approved by and containing all the requirements (including the required 3-hour DTAE course) of the Georgia state board. The student, for instance, can simply choose the Georgia 5 Hour Cosmetology Success Package or the Georgia 5 Hour Cosmetology Career Package to complete all her (or his) CE requirements for the license renewal.


Alternatively, the student can forego the course packages and opt for the individual courses. She can get the 3-hour HIV Prevention and Sanitation (a DTAE course) and combine that with a 2-hour course—the 2-hour Hair Color Made Simple, for instance—to complete the 5-hour CE requirement.

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Georgia Cosmetology License Renewal Deadline – 03.31.2012

March 31, 2012 Is the Deadline for GA Cosmetology License Renewals

Cosmetology schools in Georgia—including Cosmetologycampus.com, an approved cosmetology continuing education online provider—are scrambling to get cosmetologist to finish their mandatory continuing education (CE) in order to renew their GA cosmetology licenses by the March 13, 2012 deadline.

The Georgia Board of Cosmetology, as with all cosmetology state boards, mandates that every cosmetologist must be licensed to practice cosmetology in the state. The license must be renewed every two years. To do that the license holder is required to complete five hours of continuing-education (CE) credit: three hours of health and safety courses developed by the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE), and two hours of other courses in health and safety or in a related area of practice such as industry trends, computer skills, or business management. The license holder can also substitute attendance in a trade/product show (duly registered with the state board) for the other courses to complete the remaining two hours.

The Georgia Board of Cosmetology does not conduct continuing-education classes; instead it provides a list of approved CE course providers (not all cosmetology schools in Georgia are on the list), from which the license holder can choose.
Cosmetologycampus.com is of the approved cosmetology continuing education online provider and the cosmetology portal of e-learning hub 360training.com that offers a suite of 5-hour complete course packages, each duly approved by and containing all the requirements (including the required 3-hour DTAE course) of the Georgia state board. The student, for instance, can simply choose the Georgia 5 Hour Cosmetology Success Package or the Georgia 5 Hour Cosmetology Career Package to complete all his/her CE requirements for the license renewal.

Alternatively, the student can forego the course packages and opt for the individual courses. She can get the 3-hour HIV Prevention and Sanitation (a DTAE course) and combine that with a 2-hour course—the 2-hour Hair Color Made Simple, for instance—to complete the 5-hour CE requirement.

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Waste Water Programs

Online Wastewater Treatment Training

On site or on the job training is one of the best ways to get your wastewater treatment training for the success of your career. This has been the usual practice of professionals in the water treatment facilities to help them make advancement moves in their career. Professionals need to make sure that they do whatever it takes to learn the ropes even if it means getting their hands dirty because this is a very hands-on career that requires an extensive technical knowledge of the industry. However, when it comes to professional career training, there are other options that can speed up the training process and help you get the education that you need.

Online wastewater training programs has been offered for some time now and they have proven to be quite successful in most cases. There are elements in the wastewater treatment certification that don’t require a hands-on approach such as codes, regulations, guidelines, operational procedures and other things that needs to be learned through mental capacity. Being able to operate and run equipment in the field is one thing, understanding the codes and rules behind the principles of the operation is another – and here is where online training can be beneficial.

Some wastewater training may take years to complete due to how the programs are laid out in traditional training programs. You can take time to check out the available online courses that can teach you what you need to know about the rules and knowledge needed for the field; they can find out that they can shorten the length of their job training. At some cases, the training period is cut in half. Finding the right classes isn’t difficult, either, because any qualified training program will give you a list of specific courses required for your career and by your state law or regulating authority.

You can count on online training programs for wastewater treatment certification to give you the education you need to keep your career moving forward without having to spend too much time learning about it. Just make sure that you check out all of the available programs and determine which of those will be needed for your training because not all online classes are the same. You would need to find the best ones available to get that success you want for your career. One place to start your research is EPAcampus.com – provider of environmental training programs and wastewater treatment training.

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ICD-10’s Costly Delay

Survey Says ICD-10 Delay Will Be Costly

A recent survey by Washington-based IT vendor Edifecs Inc., a known advocate of ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases 10th Edition), the new medical code set that was supposed to replace ICD-9 on Oct. 1, 2013 but whose implementation date was pushed back indefinitely, has indicated that a delay could prove financially costly to hospitals, other healthcare facilities, and practices.

On the other hand, providers of online medical billing training and medical coding online courses—which had to quickly update enrollees on ICD-10’s 69,000 codes before the delay—now have more time to phase in their students into the thousands of new codes.

The survey, as reported by healthimaging.com, found that of the 50 healthcare professionals who responded a majority believed the longer the delay, the more dire the consequences. Ninety percent indicated that the delay should not last more than a year. The survey also reported that 58 percent of the respondents believed that a one-year delay would be "costly, but manageable," while 37 percent said it would be "beneficial."

On the other hand, only 22 percent thought that a two-year delay would be "costly, but manageable," while 56 percent stated that it would be "potentially catastrophic." Significantly, just 4 percent believed that a two-year delay would be beneficial.

Over 70 percent of the respondents believed that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should reimburse organizations for the change in compliance date. Meanwhile, 49 percent of those surveyed anticipated an 11 percent to 25 percent hike in ICD-10 transition budget for every year of delay, and 37 percent predicted a 26 percent to 50 percent increase in ICD-10 budget for each year of delay.

Edifecs also released a report summarizing the important conclusions arrived at by participants at the 2012 ICD-10 Summit. The conference, hosted by Edifecs, gathered under one roof industry analysts, payers, providers, and other stakeholders (including providers of medical coding online training and medical coding online courses) to find out how best to implement the controversial and now-delayed ICD-10.

Discussions among attendees at the Summit tended to show appreciation of the wide-ranging benefits of ICD-10 despite its complexity and the many potential problems of the migration to the new code set. Some 100 senior healthcare professionals, many from major payers, providers and healthcare consumers from across the country, attended the two-day summit.

Among the crucial takeaways from the event were:
•    Financial neutrality across the transition date is a primary objective and a key issue for payers and providers.
•    Unprecedented collaboration among trading partners is critical to achieving a successful and smooth ICD-10 migration.
•    Given the unprecedented level of testing required for each claim scenario, business process, and technology solution involved during the transition, healthcare organizations need to employ a risk-based approach to both internal and external testing.

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OSHA Going Through Local Emphasis Program Establishment

OSHA Establishes Local Emphasis Program in Wis. and Offers Compliance Assistance

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) may be more popularly associated with safety at construction sites, but actually it affects all sectors because work safety cuts across industries. This March, OSHA put together a local emphasis program to protect workers from the range of dangers on Wisconsin dairy farms, from those involving animal handling to manure storage.

"Far too many workers are injured and killed in preventable incidents at dairy farms in Wisconsin," revealed Mark Hysell, OSHA area director in Eau Claire, Wis. "This program will enable OSHA inspectors to visit dairy farms and ensure that all required measures are taken to protect workers."
Most employers today already require OSHA courses, such as OSHAcampus 30 hour and 10 hour training (both online OSHA training), as hiring requirements to reduce worksite injuries, and local emphasis programs, such as the one established on Wisconsin dairy farms, go a long in enhancing safe work environments and conditions.

Based on Wisconsin Dairy Farm Census of Agriculture data, some 34,000 workers are currently employed in the state's dairy farms. About 40 percent of them are immigrants, who may be not as familiar with safety and health rights and responsibilities as other workers. Since 2006, OSHA reported having investigated five fatality inspections at dairy farms in Wisconsin.

Under the local emphasis program, OSHA hopes to perform thorough safety and health inspections at dairy farms that have 10 non-immediate family member employees and at dairy farms that have run a temporary labor camp in the last 12 months. OSHA said that each inspection will include detailed questions to accumulate information on common dangers associated with the operation of horizontal bunker silos, skid-steer and tractor operations, and hazard communication.

OSHA is also endeavoring to make the work of cleanup crews—who often must brave inclement weather and the dangers of destroyed structures, fallen trees, and downed power lines—as safe as possible after a storm or a tornado.

Although most employers now require OSHA courses, such as OSHA 30 training and OSHA 10 training (both online OSHA training) as hiring requirements, OSHA’s providing compliance assistance still helps mitigate hazards and minimize the risks injuries on the ground.

"The safety and health of these cleanup crews are our chief concern, and we are on the ground in affected areas providing compliance assistance," said Greg Baxter, the OSHA acting regional administrator in Chicago. "Storm recovery efforts expose workers to a wide range of hazards, which can be minimized by knowledge, safe work practices, and personal protective equipment."

According to OSHA, among the dangers usually encountered during cleanup work are downed electrical wires, carbon monoxide and electrical hazards from portable generators, burns, lacerations, being struck by traffic or heavy equipment, and hazards from tree trimming or working at heights.
OSHA enjoins workers and employers in recovery work to call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) if they need onsite assistance in their areas. Vital information on safe work practices and personal protective equipment can be found on OSHA's Tornado Recovery page at http://www.osha.gov/dts/weather/tornado/index.html.

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Burn Hazards Result in OSHA Fines

For failing to provide the simple matter of personal protective equipment, Miniature Precision Components Inc. is looking at a proposed fine by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of $55,000.

The penalty came in the wake of an OSHA investigation at the company’s Richland Center facility which found that employees working mold machines were exposed to very hot temperatures without adequate personal protective equipment.

The importance of OSHA training such as OSHAcampus 30 and 10 hour training, and 40 Hour HAZWOPER training cannot be overemphasized in maintaining a safe work environment. Unfortunately, many employers still fail to implement the safety standards at their worksites and ultimately endanger the health and safety of their employees.

"Failing to protect employees from burns while they are working with materials manufactured at high temperatures shows a disregard for their safety," pointed out Kim Stille, OSHA area director in Madison. Wisconsin. "Employers have a responsibility to be aware of the hazards that exist in their workplace and ensure that work environments are healthful and safe."

Miniature Precision Components' corporate headquarters is located in Walworth. The company's Richland Center facility had been inspected by OSHA five times since 1999, resulting in 11 citations.

OSHACampus.com, a leading provider of online OSHA training, has 10 Hour OSHA Training and 30 Hour OSHA Training, as well as 40 Hour HAZWOPER training for workers, supervisors, and contractors.

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Health IT Community Urges HHS for New ICD-10 Date

The reaction by the health IT community to the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) postponement of the ICD-10 implementation has been a mixed bag, with many leaders fearing that the delay could disrupt their health IT plans and cause the time and money they have already spent to meet the original October 1, 2013 deadline to go to waste.

ICD-10, the new and more extensive medical coding set, was to be implemented in the U.S. on October 1, 2013, but the debut was pushed back to an unspecified future date. Medical facilities and medical practices—as well as providers of medical billing and coding training—all over the country had been prepping for ICD-10 for some time before the postponement.

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) asked that HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius act decisively when she takes the next steps that will guide the health IT community migrate from ICD-9 to ICD-10 code sets. "We strongly urge HHS to move quickly and decisively in setting a new compliance date for converting to ICD-10," CHIME president and CEO Richard Correll exhorted in a letter to Sebelius.

"Providers have spent millions preparing for a deadline set over three years in advance. Technology has been upgraded, new processes implemented, new hires made, and new education and training regimes established. This announcement has created a level of uncertainty that threatens much of the progress already made by many hospitals and clinics across the country," Correll added.

Meditec.com, like other providers of online medical billing and coding training—as well as medical transcription professional career training and pharmacy technician classes—provides the coursework the medical coding community needs to be ready for ICD-10.

Read More»

Cosmetology Schools and the Georgia Cosmetology License Renewal Deadline on March 31, 2012

Cosmetology Schools in Georgia Scramble to Meet March 31, 2012 License Renewal Deadline

Cosmetology schools in Georgia—including Cosmetologycampus.com, an approved GA cosmetology CE  (continuing education) online provider—are scrambling to get cosmetologists to finish their mandatory continuing education (CE) in order to renew their GA cosmetology licenses by the March 13, 2012 deadline.

The Georgia Board of Cosmetology mandates that every cosmetologist practicing in the state must renew her (or his) GA cosmetology license every two years. To do that she is required to complete five hours of Georgia cosmetology continuing- education (CE) credit: three hours of health and safety courses developed by the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE), and two hours of other courses, including health and safety of course. Attendance in a trade/product show (duly registered with the state board) can be substituted for the remaining two hours.

Cosmetologycampus.com provides a collection of 5-hour complete packages to choose from, each one fully approved by and containing all the requirements (including the required 3-hour DTAE course) of the Georgia state board.

Alternatively, the student can forego the course packages and opt for the individual courses. She can get the 3-hour HIV Prevention and Sanitation (a DTAE course) and combine that with a 2-hour course—the 2-hour Hair Color Made Simple, for instance—to complete the 5-hour CE requirement.

The student can take advantage of two convenient formats when taking any of the CE courses: online and e-book. The online format allows the students to take the whole course—lessons, quizzes, and all—online by just clicking through the multimedia course and audio narration. The e-book format, on the other hand, needs the student to download a PDF, a kind of interactive file, to study at her convenience before taking the online exam. The student can print her certificate of completion after the final quiz.

A 24-hour technical support is available to all enrolled students at 800-442-1149.

Read More»

OSHA Citations for Petrol Explosion and Burn hazards

Petrol Explosion and Burn Hazards Result in OSHA Fines

All manner of accidents threaten the American worker, and all are preventable. Sadly, every day across the country these same avoidable accidents cause dire consequences on health, or result in injury, even death. Although most employers now require Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) training, such as OSHA 30 certification and OSHA 10 hour training, and 40 Hour HAZWOPER training, lapses (both unintentional and not) still frequently occur and put in great danger the health and safety of workers.

This February, OSHA cited Coomes Oil & Supply Inc. for safety hazards after an employee of Florida Rock & Tank Lines, the company that delivers petroleum to one of its gas stations, was burned in an explosion in August 2011.

OSHA reported that the delivery driver was refilling an above-ground gasoline storage tank that had a malfunctioning gauge. The tank eventually overflowed and caused an explosion. The subsequent OSHA investigation revealed that the gas station and Florida Rock & Tank Lines knew of the broken gauge and yet proceeded with refilling the storage tank.

Florida Rock & Tank Lines was cited for one willful violation for failing to provide a way for the delivery driver to determine if the storage tank was in danger of overflowing. The citation carried a proposed penalty of $70,000. Coomes Oil & Supply, on the other hand, was cited for one serious violation with a proposed penalty of $7,000.

"Unfortunately for the injured employee, the two companies involved in this explosion learned a safety lesson by means of a terrible incident instead of taking the steps they should have to protect their workers in the first place," stated OSHA area director Brian Sturtecky.

One company that may be luckier than either Coomes Oil & Supply Inc. or Florida Rock & Tank Lines is Miniature Precision Components Inc.

For failing to provide the simple matter of personal protective equipment, Miniature Precision Components Inc. is looking at a proposed fine by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of $55,000.

The penalty came after an OSHA investigation at the company’s Richland Center facility which found that employees working mold machines were exposed to very hot temperatures without adequate personal protective equipment

"Failing to protect employees from burns while they are working with materials manufactured at high temperatures shows a disregard for their safety," pointed out Kim Stille, OSHA area director in Madison. Wisconsin. "Employers have a responsibility to be aware of the hazards that exist in their workplace and ensure that work environments are healthful and safe."

Miniature Precision Components' corporate headquarters is located in Walworth. The company's Richland Center facility had been inspected by OSHA five times since 1999, resulting in 11 citations.

OSHACampus.com, a leading provider of online OSHA training, has 10 Hour OSHA Training and 30 Hour OSHA Training, as well as 40 Hour HAZWOPER training for workers, supervisors, and contractors.

Read More»

Survey Shows Concern for the ICD 10 Implementation Delay

Some Fear Fallout from ICD-10 Postponement

Not all have welcomed the postponement of the implementation of ICD-10, the upgrade to the medical coding set currently in use in the U.S. A survey from Edifecs, which develops technologies for regulatory compliance and data exchange, shows that a majority of its respondents said that the ICD-10 postponement does little to improve industry readiness--and can have significant bad effects.

ICD-10 was to debut in the U.S. on Oct. 1, 2013, but its implementation was pushed back to a yet-unspecified date. Medical facilities and medical practices—as well as providers of medical billing and coding training—all over the country had been scrambling to get ready for ICD-10, and many complained that they might not have enough time to complete their preparations.

The survey involved over 50 senior healthcare professionals attending the 2012 ICD-10 Summit, a conference hosted by Edifecs. Some of its major findings are: nearly 64 percent of the respondents believed a delay does not improve readiness; 69 percent said a two-year delay is either “potentially catastrophic” or “unrecoverable;” and 76 percent believed a delay harms other healthcare reform efforts.

Cost was a big concern among the respondents. In answer to a question about the impact of a one-year delay, almost 50 percent said it would increase costs between 11 and 25 percent; 37 percent estimated their costs would balloon to 50 percent.
“The survey results tell us that stopping or slowing down work is a very real outcome of a delay, and it could derail a healthcare organization’s progress. The cost implications alone are worrisome,” said Edifecs CEO Sunny Singh.

The reaction by the health IT community to HHS’s postponement of the ICD-10 implementation has been a mixed bag, with many leaders fearing that the delay could disrupt their health IT plans and cause the time and money they have already spent to meet the original October 1, 2013 deadline to go to waste.

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) asked that HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius act decisively when she takes the next steps that will guide the health IT community migrate from ICD-9 to ICD-10 code sets. "We strongly urge HHS to move quickly and decisively in setting a new compliance date for converting to ICD-10," CHIME president and CEO Richard Correll exhorted in a letter to Sebelius.

"Providers have spent millions preparing for a deadline set over three years in advance. Technology has been upgraded, new processes implemented, new hires made, and new education and training regimes established. This announcement has created a level of uncertainty that threatens much of the progress already made by many hospitals and clinics across the country," Correll added.

Meditec.com, like other providers of medical billing and coding training—as well as Meditec.com medical transcription training and pharmacy technician classes—provides the coursework the medical coding community needs to be ready for ICD-10.

Read More»

Cosmetology Schools and the Georgia Cosmetology License Renewal Deadline on March 31, 2012

Cosmetology Schools in Georgia Scramble to Meet March 31, 2012 License Renewal Deadline

Cosmetology schools in Georgia—including Cosmetologycampus.com, an approved GA cosmetology CE (continuing education) online provider—are scrambling to get cosmetologists to finish their mandatory continuing education (CE) in order to renew their GA cosmetology licenses by the March 13, 2012 deadline.

The Georgia Board of Cosmetology mandates that every cosmetologist practicing in the state must renew her (or his) GA cosmetology license every two years. To do that she is required to complete five hours of Georgia cosmetology continuing education (CE) credit: three hours of health and safety courses developed by the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE), and two hours of other courses, including health and safety of course. Attendance in a trade/product show (duly registered with the state board) can be substituted for the remaining two hours.

Cosmetologycampus.com provides a collection of 5-hour complete packages to choose from, each one fully approved by and containing all the requirements (including the required 3-hour DTAE course) of the Georgia state board.

Alternatively, the student can forego the course packages and opt for the individual courses. She can get the 3-hour HIV Prevention and Sanitation (a DTAE course) and combine that with a 2-hour course—the 2-hour Hair Color Made Simple, for instance—to complete the 5-hour CE requirement.

The student can take advantage of two convenient formats when taking any of the CE courses: online and e-book. The online format allows the students to take the whole course—lessons, quizzes, and all—online by just clicking through the multimedia course and audio narration. The e-book format, on the other hand, needs the student to download a PDF, a kind of interactive file, to study at her convenience before taking the online exam. The student can print her certificate of completion after the final quiz. 

A 24-hour technical support is available to all enrolled students at 800-442-1149.

Read More»