The Following is an excerpt from Jack Huntress’s blog: Common Ground

Thanks for using MediConnect and for mentioning us on your blog.

“Summary:  I took the next step with digital records by using the MediConnect service.

My foray into digital health records continues.  Recently I paid MediConnect to aggregate my records from three different hosptials (childhood, college and current) and put them in a digital format that could be consumed by Google Health.  Even then I’m sure I am missing about 25% of my overall records that are scattered at different hospitals.   I also went in and filled out my profile on Google Health.  

While many are concerned about privacy and certainly that is worrisome, I have the general feeling that not knowing my history (immunizations, shots, xrays, MRIs, blood work etc) is much worse so I’m taking some steps forward.

The Google Health service is linked to CVS, Walgreens, BC/BS and a couple dozen other providers with more being added all the time.

My feeling is that unless you have a great system for keeping and filing information you should at least consider this as something worth doing.”

Shakespeare’s Romeo once stated “What’s in a name?” Well, doctors, hospitals and insurers are asking the same question in their line of work…“What’s in a Code?”

 A whole lot, according to the Wall Street Journal. Currently, doctors and hospitals use the ICD-9CM billing codes, however, the new ICD-10 billing codes which are coming in October 2011 call for more details about the patients, their conditions and their treatments. (See “Look Out, Docs: Here Comes ICD-10)

For example currently, there are 5 codes for a sprained ankle; with the ICD-10 codes there will be 45 different codes, with very specific details attached to each one. The new system will have 155,000 codes including 68,000 codes describing diagnoses, up from 13,000 currently, and 87,000 codes for different medical procedures, compared with 3,000 today. Hospitals use both types of codes, but physicians use only the diagnostic codes.

“That’s very complicated to a provider,” an official at the Medical Group Management Association tells the WSJ. A rushed doc might just check “unspecified” to describe the injury.”

Apparently, the providers of our healthcare system could be in for a shock.
For doctors and insurers the battle lines are drawn. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are pushing for this new system, because they claim it can boost claims insurers return to doctors for coding errors by 10%. However, it could become a costly headache for patients and doctors − to the tune of $1.64 billion over the course of fifteen years. 

So what is better, having more specific information on each patient or having a frustrated doctor, who just puts in an unspecified code so he can get paid?  So I start where I began, “What’s in a Code?” A lot of money and a lot of reasons for doctors and insurers to keep on fighting.

MediConnect Global is removing the worry about your medical records and putting the control back into your hands with its consumer driven healthcare initiative.
“In the world today it’s especially hard for people to drive their own healthcare decisions because they don’t have any idea what is written in their healthcare records by their doctors,” said MediConnect CEO, Amy Rees Anderson.

Consumer driven healthcare is the focus of the future for one major reason.
“It gives people control of their information to be able to make better choices for their families,” Anderson said.
Anderson recounts a story of a 90 year old woman who underwent three colonoscopy procedures at three different facilities because the facilities didn’t have her records indicating it had already been preformed. This doesn’t have to be the case.
With Consumer Driven Healthcare you get three key advantages:

1. Control: It gives you control and awareness of your personal health record by providing information like prescriptions, procedures, diagnoses, to prevent potential allergic reactions, or the expense and discomfort of duplicated tests.
2. Access: It gives you access to your medical records 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. This is beneficial in the event of an emergency, when traveling or for selecting different providers.
3. Information: Allows you to make informed decisions for you and your family.

You can retrieve your personal records directly from MediConnect at its Web site (www.mediconnect.net) or through Google Health.  With a few clicks of the mouse you can retrieve your medical records, as well as receive health related information pulled from each record in an easy to read and understand format.

There are two ways to retrieve your records, both from the MediConnect Website (www.mediconnect.net) Mediconnect.net. Click on the “consumer services” and MediConnect will retrieve your records, digitize them into a PDF document and email you when they are ready to be downloaded. You can also retrieve your records by clicking on the Google Health logo on the MediConnect web site.

Your medical records are kept completely safe and confidential. MediConnect is HIPPA complaint.
The ability to access ones medical records is a choice that clearly belongs in your hands.

MediConnect Global today joins thousands of people from many different groups and organizations volunteering their time and services in support of the people and clean up of the Gulf hurricane disaster areas by donating digitized back up copies of archived medical records to those who may have lost their paper medical records due to the storms.

MediConnect has retrieved or received requests to retrieve thousands of medical records from organizations in the areas most affected by Hurricane Ike, Hurricane Gustav, and Tropical Storm Fay. MediConnect will donate digitized copies of medical records to individuals, physicians, hospitals, law firms, insurance carriers or independent agents located in the designated disaster areas who submit a request accompanied by a HIPAA-compliant patient authorization. Those who need their records can go to www.mediconnect.net to begin the process of getting any records that may be in MediConnect’s archive.

MediConnect’s donations join many relief efforts from people, churches, and other organizations providing help in the devastated areas.

MediConnect has an extensive archive of digitized medical records—records that were previously retrieved. If people or healthcare organizations within the disaster areas need to replace any medical records, MediConnect will donate free of charge any that it contains in its archives.

Simply go to the MedConnect Web site and click on the Hurricane Ike link. Fill out and submit a simple form and a MediConnect representative will contact you to coordinate any archived records the company may have.

If you a regular user of MediConnect’s RapidRetrieve, you’ll be very happy to know the company has recently updated the interface and added new features to make it easier than ever to use the system to quickly order, retrieve and manage your medical records.

Next time you login one of the first things you’ll notice is a picture and contact information of your assigned account manager. This should make it easier for you to reach your AM and adds a personal touch so you know better who you are working with. You will also notice navigation is more intuitive as you place your orders.

In addition, new features have been added including:

• Excessive Fee Batch Approval/Denial–This feature allows you to set an approved provider fee limit associated with your pay-as-you-go payment options. If the provider fee of a medical record will be over the approved set fee, your approval will be needed. When this occurs a window opens allowing a user to approve or deny fees in batches simply by clicking convenient check boxes.
• Mouse-over notes–Whenever you place your mouse over the Request ID number within RapidRetrieve, you’ll automatically see the last three notes on the request. This is beneficial for the Excessive Fee feature and enhances the ability to quickly review “need more information” notes without opening additional windows.
• Inter-Office Notes–You can now write inter-office notes directly in RapidRetrieve. This allows you to write notes to others in your office to coordinate activity, or as a reminder to yourself.
• Electronic Invoicing–You can now choose to receive electronic invoices in RapidRetrieve. The electronic invoices are easy to read and understand, summarize all outstanding invoices for efficient invoice tracking, can be downloaded in either PDA or CSV format, and are automatically encrypted and decrypted for secure delivery. (A small fee will now be charged for paper invoices.)
• Pay-as-you-go–RapidRetrieve now provides a convenient pay-as-you-go payment option making it faster for you to access ordered records. You can choose either auto-pay, which automatically bills a cred card on file, or manual pay, which bills a credit card when records are ready to download.

For the second year in a row, MediConnect Global was recognized in Inc. Magazine’s annual fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2008/company-profile.html?id=200806790 MediConnect was number 72 in Inc.’s Top 100 Business Services Companies.

The company is pleased to once again be recognized by Inc. as one of the fastest growing private companies in the country. The company contributes its on-going growth to increased services to its key markets, its professional staff, and its intry into other markets such as the consumer market. www.mediconnect.net