Switching to Electronic Medical Records May Not Be a Cure for Billing Abuses
By Robert Rose
Last month, in a joint letter by HHS and DOJ to five prominent hospital associations, the government warned that some providers are using electronic medical records (EMR) to “game the system.” The September 24th letter gave examples of “troubling indications” of EMR misuse:
- Cutting and pasting the same examination findings for multiple patients—known as “cloning”—to make it appear that physicians conducted more thorough exams that were actually done
- Upcoding the intensity or severity of a patient’s condition simply to profit without improving the quality of care
