Book Description

Hundreds of changes have already been made since the 2004 release! Stay up-to-date on the new HCPCS 2005 code changes that will impact code accuracy and claims submission. The AMA HCPCS code book is your guide to Medicare's National Level II codes, and must be used to bill Medicare for DME, drugs, rehab, materials and medical supplies. Inside you'll find:

-APC status codes and Addendum B edits

-All HCPCS 2005 codes and modifiers - Including all deleted codes for 2005

-Easy-to-use color-coded bars, icons and tabs

-Medicare Carriers Manual and Coverage Issues Manual

-Excerpts that help to indicate drugs and services that are not reimbursable

-Flagged quantity alerts and ASC designation - Helps to ensure proper reimbursement

-Detailed annotations and coding advice - Assists in easier and accurate code selection

-Payers Appendix - Know which payers accept HCPCS Level II codes to file claims with ease and confidence

-Expanded Front Index - Allows for easy code look-ups

-E-mail Delivered Special Reports ... Read more

Book Description

Essential for anyone involved in the development of public health systems today and into the future, this book describes the characteristics of local, state and federal public health agencies. Extremely well-referenced, this book can serve as a source book for beginning further education or to help with research topics in public health. In the 2nd edition, 5 new chapters are added to provide state-of-the-art coverage of todays public health issues.The new chapters include Chapter 3, The last Decade examines public health in the nineties, Chapter 12 Performance Standards, Chapter 16, Public Health Workforce, Chapter 17, Health Promotion/Disease Prevention Effectiveness, and Chapter 28, International Health Features. ... Read more

Book Description

Professor Herzlinger documents how the consumer-driven health care movement is being implemented and its impact on insurers, providers, new intermediaries, and governments. With additional contributions by health care’s leading strategists, innovators, regulators and scholars, Consumer-Driven Health Care presents a compelling vision of a health care system built to satisfy the people it serves.

This comprehensive resource includes the most important thinking on the topic and compelling case studies of consumer-driven health care (CDHC) in action, here and abroad, including new consumer-driven intermediaries for information and support; types of insurance plans; focused factories for delivering health care; personalized drugs and devices; and government roles. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Thought Provoking
In "Consumer-Driven Health Care," Regina E. Herzlinger, a leading health care thought leader and a professor at the Harvard Business School, provides a thought-provoking look inside a new, powerful force slowly transforming America's dysfunctional health care industry. "Consumer-Driven Health Care" builds on her popular 1997 book "Market-Driven Health Care: Who Wins, Who Loses in the Transformation of America's Largest Service Industry."

In the first part of her new 900-page book, Dr. Herzlinger makes a convincing case about how and why health care is broken and why market-based solutions - which empower consumers - are best. She restates the case she made in "Market-Driven Health Care" for putting consumers directly in charge of their own decisions (picking insurance plans, making medical decisions).

Through transparency of information, a realignment of incentives, and new tools to support decision-making, the consumer-driven model gives individuals a clear stake in their own health care. While not unique to other parts of the US economy, the approach is a radical departure for the $1.7 trillion health care market. As Dr. Herzlinger makes clear in her energetic analysis, the absence of these proven market-based tools goes a long to explain why health care became our most inefficient, outdated, and error-prone industry.

The second part - 80 percent of the book - is a collection of 73 think pieces written by 92 other experts. With short introductions by Dr. Herzlinger, these articles serve as a useful initial knowledge base for a growing field with an uncertain future.

"Consumer-Driven Health Care" has its limitations. For example, Dr. Herzlinger's case for the consumer-driven model fails to address the Medicare and Medicaid systems. It also leaves a variety of practical transition and execution issues unaddressed, although these are beyond the purpose of this volume. Because articles were written several years ago as part of a conference and most of the writers lack purchaser-side experience, the book also does not deal with the growing list of market-based reforms underway by large employers and innovative health plans.

In addition, since the field is still in its infancy, Dr. Herzlinger is a business researcher, and the contributors are largely wide-eyed entrepreneurs, the book will likely frustrate health policy wonks and others stuck in the technical minutia and ideological fights that characterize most health care discussions. But then, that's just as well. Too often analysts forget that health care is a business and operates as a market, albeit a flawed one insulated from tools proven to drive quality and efficiency. And we need all the wide-eyed, out-of-the-box thinking we can get.

Dr. Herzlinger also has her detractors. It reminds me of the old joke that there are two kinds of people in the world - people who like Wayne Newton and people who don't. Well, it seems that health care wonkdom is divided by those who like Reggie Herzlinger's ideas and those who don't. However, given the massive problems in American health care, her plain-spoken, business-savvy contributions remain as useful as they are provocative.

For a good primer on consumer-driven health care, I recommend "Let's Put Consumers in Charge of Health Care," a concise article by Dr. Herzlinger in Harvard Business Review (July 2002 issue). Available here on Amazon.com ($7, PDF). ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (2)

A rare focus on the social and economic context
This is the only book-length exploration of the social and economic context of the the HIV/AIDS epidemics. What comes through is that the authors are not journalists who dashed off a book on AIDS, but longtime researchers, with world-ranging experience.

WHile well documented, it is readable. The next college level course I teach on contemporary issues will surely include this as required reading. My students will thank me for it.

The best comprehensive treatment of HIV/AIDS
Tony Barnett and Alan Whieside have done a fantastic job of placing the issue of HIV/AIDS within a comprehensive context. It is easy to read, well researched, thoughtful in it's analysis, and comprehensive - that is, it places the pandemic amidst the global forces that are affecting it and which must be understood if we're to successfully turn the tide. I am recommending it to many of my colleagues! It is the best book I have read to-date on the most challenging crisis facing the human family. ... Read more

Book Description

Health Care Market Strategy: From Planning to Action, Third Edition, a standard reference for over ten years, bridges the gap between marketing theory and implementation by showing you, step-by-step, how to develop and execute successful marketing strategies using appropriate tactics. Put the concepts you learned in introductory marketing courses into action using the authors' own unique model---called the strategy/action match--from which you will learn how to determine exactly which tactics to employ in a variety of settings.

In this new edition, you'll also discover the latest practical applications for strategy development, the marketing planning process, challenges of a competitive marketplace, vision, and other critical aspects of health care marketing. ... Read more

Book Description

This new title provides nurses with specific, practical advice on documenting a wide range of situations -- from caring for a patient with a myocardial infarction to witnessing a patient sign his will.In clear, concise language, the book gives detailed explanations of how, what, and when to document in nearly 100 of the most common, most important situations nurses face in practice.Each entry tells exactly what to consider and what to document so that the nurse can ensure quality patient care, continuity of care, and legal protection for the nurse and the institution. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

"Surefire Documentation" Review
This is a wonderful book. It was given to me to review by one of the charge nurses where I work--a long term care facility in a small town in Iowa. This text not only gives very good instruction on documentation, it is organized well. Each cover includes a quick reference guide to assist with finding specific areas of concern. It is well written and includes text boxes with more specifics and concrete examples. I have recommended it to my Director of Nursing Services as a resource that could be used in the other 2 nursing facilities in the corporation. An excellent reference text with easy to find entries! I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants a ready reference. ... Read more

Book Description

Health care premiums in the U.S. are escalating from twelve to twenty percent a year— with no end in sight. The impact of those cost increases on both employers and employees will be huge. Workers will see a direct cut in their take-home pay. Millions will lose health insurance coverage completely. Senior citizens on fixed incomes will be hit particularly hard, as premiums for their Medicare supplement plans and prescription drug costs climb. Frustrated and angry, people will soon be demanding a solution from their elected officials, and, for the first time in recent memory, the size of our unemployed population will become a real political issue rather than just the subject of energetic rhetoric. It is time to recognize that we are moving into a major health care crisis in this country, a crisis driven by the way we deliver, receive, and pay for care.
Epidemic of Care offers a comprehensive assessment of the factors behind the cost crisis, how the crisis will escalate, and what can be done to improve the situation. A blueprint for getting to a coherent national health policy, this book calls for a collaboration between different parts of the private sector, state and local governments, and, at times, the federal government— with a formula that can succeed no matter who rules Congress. Authors George C. Halvorson and George J. Isham, M.D.— two individuals who have made an impressive impact on the national health care scene— provide some practical, field-tested, sometimes controversial suggestions about how to make health care in this country more accountable, more efficient, more valuable, and more affordable.

... Read more

Reviews (5)

Readable and timely
This is an intellegently written synopsis of the current state of affairs in U.S. healthcare. Halvorson and Isham analyse the strengths and faults of the major attempts to bring the run away cost of health care into some affordable limits. They point out the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. They also have some suggestions for the future so we will not repeat the errors of the past.

Being in the Health Insurance business I have heard many alternatives proferred to correct our perceived need for health care reform. Mssrs. Halvorson and Isham have presented the best arguement I have seen so far for a workable solution.

Epidemic of Care
Epidemic of Care provides a succinct overview of what presently ails our nations health care delivery system. It demonstrates how our health care delivery system is really a non-system with millions of independent, uncoordinated, and separately moving parts, priorities and vested interests. The result of this morass, more than forty million uninsured citizens, inconsistent and unaccountable care, and the fastest growing and most wasteful health care delivery economy in the world.

The authors argue that it is time for all parties -- payors, providers, consumers and policymakers -- to recognize that the U.S. is approaching a major health care crisis that is driven by the way we deliver, receive, and pay for care. Epidemic of Care offers a convincing portray how this impending crisis will impact nearly every segment of our society, including:
>> diminished take-home pay for America's workers
>> increases to the rate of uninsured as smaller companies drop health care coverage altogether
>> strains to senior's incomes as premiums for Medicare supplement plans and prescription drug costs climb
>> diminished quality resulting from inconsistent or uncoordinated care

The cure -- collaboration between payors, providers, consumers and policymakers to achieve a more accountable, efficient and affordable health care delivery system.

Care Costs
We Americans are ambitious, aggressive, and full of self-interest. We want the best and the most, and we strive to achieve it. We are resourceful and clever, and we achieve a lot of what we set out to. Mr. Halvorson and Dr. Isham show how much we have accomplished in clinical science, especially in how doctors and institutions provide health care to individuals. But they also show how little regard we have to the financial cost of providing that care. They describe the fiscal and social trade-offs that occur in our medical economy all the time. Very few of us entrepreneurs, politicians, social leaders or patients are even minimally conscious of these costs. Reading this book will change how you listen to the next story about a premature baby or a liver transplant, and it ought to change how you think about the health care you consume.

Health care's diagnosis--and potential cure
In clear terms, Halvorson and Isham examine why the American health care "non-" system continues to deliver some of the best health care in the world-and some of the worst-at a price fewer and fewer people can afford. The authors do an excellent job of assessing the current health care landscape, how it got that way, and what health care decision-makers and consumers can do about it. In these days of "cost shifting" and "skinny" benefits, their emphasis on health care delivery redesign is a refreshing reminder that measuring and rewarding quality is the only way to truly solve the health care crisis.

an important take on health care
This was a highly informative take on a topic that is sure to become even more urgent as time goes on. A must-read for health care workers as well as any citizen interested in understanding how our health care system works and what it will take to improve it. ... Read more

Book Description

This clear, step-by-step best-selling introduction to the economics of health and health care thoroughly develops and explains economic ideas and models to reflect the full spectrum of the most current health economics literature.This book uses core economic themes as basic as supply and demand, as venerable as technology or labor issues, and as modern as the economics of information. Chapter topics include health care, health capital, information, health insurance markets, managed care, nonprofit firms, hospitals, physicians and labor, the pharmaceutical industry, government intervention and regulation, and epidemiology and economics.Useful as a reference work for health service researchers, government specialists, and physicians and others in the health care field. ... Read more

Book Description

Begins with an introduction to Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), followed by in-depth explanations of the sections in the CPT manual.Unit 2 covers the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD 9-CM). Unit 3 concerns third party reimbursement. Appendix provides the official ICD-9-CM guidelines for coding and reporting. A new feature, From the Trenches, highlights a different real-life medical coding practitioner in each chapter, with photographs throughout the chapter alongside quotes that offer practical advice or motivational comments. A new workbook supplements the text with more than 1,000 questions and terminology exercises, as well as original source documents to familiarize the reader with documents they will encounter in practice. ISBN for Workbook is 0-7216-9349-0. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

No Answer Key
I purchased this book for an online medical coding and reimbursement class. Overall I was disappointed. Although the author gives good examples of coding procedures, sometimes she doesn't follow through with showing examples of some of the more complex coding rules. Most frustrating was not having an answer key for readers to check their answers to the numerous exercises... particularly since medical coding stresses "accuracy, accuracy, accuracy". The frequent hand symbol of stop! was very annoying. The book does have useful info that is clearly written. However, I would not recommend spending the money for this book without an answer key included. ...

Thumbs Up for this Useful Book
As preparation for the CCS examination, I find this book to provide excellent background material on the CPT classification system and outpatient medical coding. I'm in the beginning stages of using the text; but I am immediately impressed. It seems logical, thorough, and well-organized. While the coding exercises are an aid, it is the supporting documentation that sets this book apart from other review books I have been using. I give it a high recommendation to those of you who are searching for a comprehensive, up-to-date resource.

GOOD PRICE
If your going to Fairleigh Dickinson University and your taking up Medical Coding and Billing you will need this book

Step-By-Step Medical Coding
This is easy to use and really works to learn medical coding. It is written so you can understand it and has a lot of questions right in the text. The answers to the questions are in the back of the book. I also got the workbook, and every other question answer is in the back of that book with hint. This really is a good book. I thought this would be hard for me to learn, but it wasn't.

Teaching with Step-by-Step
I have been using Step-by-Step Medical Coding to teach with for the last four years. I have had excellent results with the students comprehension and building of job skills. I think she has a wonderful methodology of skill building and incremental learning. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is the essential reference for health professionals regardless of their field of specialty.The practical instructions and examples throughout the book reflect multidisciplinary backgrounds. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Management Principles for Health Professionals
The forth edition of Management Principles for Health Professionals has three parts and 15 chapters. Part one has two chapters about the health professional's modern arena. Part two has five chapters about management functions-planning, decision making, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. Part three has eight chapters about practical considerations for keeping the department running smoothly-budgeting; committees and teams; adaptation, innovation, and conflict management; training and development; authority, leadership, and supervision; human resource management; communication; and day-to-day management. Each chapter starts with chapter objectives and ends with exercises, notes, and appendix. There are exhibits throughout the book including but not limited to: mission, vision, values statement, philosophy, objectives, procedure, strategic plan, scheduling by shifts, guidelines for use of contractual services, job descriptions, process for written request for release of information, control tools, annual budget plan, worksheets for budgeting, calculating FTE, worksheet for comparison of storage options, follow up of committee actions, monitoring and evaluation of standards, quality assurance report, program evaluation, written warning and grievance procedure. Tables, figures, and cases are used throughout to help clarify concepts. The book ends with a index. This book is useful for nursing student, practicing nurse managers and other health professionals. ... Read more

Book Description

Extensively revised and updated, the new edition of AIDS and Other Manifestations of HIV Infection is an essential reference resource providing a comprehensive overview of the biological properties of this etiologic viral agent, its clinicopathological manifestations, the epidemiology of its infection, and present and future therapeutic options.

New to this Edition:
* Expanded section on clinical manifestations includes new chapters on cardiovascular, renal and dermatologic manifestations of HIV infection
* Additional chapters on molecular diagnostic techniques, the role of host genetic variation in HIV infection and its manifestations, the discovery and development of new HIV medicines, analysis of HIV dynamics using mathematical models, toxicities of antiretroviral therapy, HIV drug susceptibility testing, practical therapeutics and the global impact of HIV and AIDS ... Read more

Book Description

Environmental Health has established itself as the most succinct and comprehensive textbook on the subject. This extensively revised and rewritten third edition continues this tradition by incorporating new developments and by adding timely coverage of topics such as environmental economics and terrorism.

As in previous volumes, the new edition presents balanced assessments of environmental problems, examining their local and global implications, their short- and long-range impacts, and their importance in both developed and less developed countries of the world. The Third Edition also addresses emerging issues such as environmental justice, deforestation, the protection of endangered species, multiple chemical sensitivity, and the application of the threshold concept in evaluating the effects of toxic and radioactive materials.

Whether discussing acid rain, ozone depletion, global warming, or more traditional subjects such as the management and control of air, water, and food, Dade Moeller emphasizes the need for a systems approach. As with previous volumes, Environmental Health, Third Edition, offers a depth of understanding that is without peer. While it covers technical details, it is also a book that anyone with an interest in the environment can pick up and browse at random.

Book Description

An AHA Press/Jossey-Bass Publication

Learn to reconceptualize strategy development in today's uncertain environment. This book introduces three specific techniques--scenario planning, decision analysis, and game theory-- that have been developed in the corporate world and tailored to the unique needs of the health care industry. The book also shares practical implementation approaches, presents numerous real life case studies and lessons learned, and provides guidelines for reducing financial risks during plan implementation. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Excellent Overview of Strategic Planning
This book is an extremely readable overview of strategic planning in healthcare today. The chapters build on each other very well, and leave the reader with an excellent picture of the whys and hows of development of strategic vision relative to the position and capabilities of the organization. The section on strategic intent is particularly useful. The tables and figures are useful, clear, and easy to understand. Each chapter ends with "Lessons Learned", a useful summary and reminder of the chapter contents. I recommend this book as both a primer and refresher for those interested in healthcare stategic planning.

A practical guide to strategy development
It is clear when reading Health Care Strategy for Uncertain Times that the authors have significant experience in strategy development in the healthcare arena. The book clearly outlines a process for strategy development and points out common pitfalls along the way (e.g. mistaking data for information, focusing on experience rather than skills when choosing members of the strategy development team, etc.). Furthermore, the book describes useful tools for addressing uncertainty (i.e. decision-analysis, scenario planning and game theory) and provides a framework for determining when a specific tool will prove useful.

Perhaps what makes the book most valuable, however, is what it does not include. There are no claims of sure-fire solutions that are, unfortunately, so common in contemporary strategy literature. The authors correctly realize that cookie-cutter solutions offer no long term benefit to the reader (and most likely no short term benefit either). Rather the authors have created a guide to building a strategy development process that, once developed, will be applicable to any situation.

Excellent Set of Tools
This book proposed a variety of tools that are incredibly helpful in moving a management team (and leadership team) along in thinking about the strategies that the organization is undertaking. It is also helpful in looking at the tacit strategies undertaken by not making decisive moves. The material proposes a broad range of ways to engage the strategic framework, given the market driven changes that befall the healthcare providers. Marion Jennings, Susie Krentz and the JRK team are impressive thought leaders that generously share their 'lessons learned' in this very useful book.

An Excellent Resource
This book is an excellent resource for strategic planners looking for new approaches. The authors' experience comes through with numerous practical ideas for developing strategies that can be implemented effectively. When I read their examples, I felt like they were talking about my organization! I highly recommend this book.

An "A-ha" Experience
This is a book that is to the point and as I read, I kept thinking "A-ha" that makes sense. HEALTH CARE STRATEGY FOR UNCERTAIN TIMES is a must read for anyone interested in surviving and thriving in today's volatile health care market. The book's editor addresses the differences between data and information, the importance of external, internal and environmemtal assessments, the need for decision analysis along with financial planning that supports the organization's strategies and the importance of contigency planning? After reading this book, I felt energized as I began to realize, that there are tools and methods for moving an organization beyond planning and into decision making and implementation. The reality of decision making in uncertain times is that an inability to act will result in your organization not being able to obtain its full potential and achieve its mission. HEALTH CARE STRATEGY FOR UNCERTAIN TIMES can and will help decision-makers better understand the process of positioning health care organizations for success. ... Read more

Book Description

Introduction to Public Health provides a comprehensive overview of the dynamic field of public health and its major functions. It includes discussions of epidemiological investigation, biomedical research, environmental assessment, analysis of individual and group behavior, massive data collection efforts, and policy developments. This book will discuss the role of public health in the larger health care delivery system and the political role of public health; specifically the role of state and federal governments versus the rights of individuals. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Truly a wonder
Truly a wonder. Not only is it full of useful information, well organized, thorough, and insightful - it's readable!!! For once, I could not put a book (other than a novel!) down! The author kept my interest alive with the excellent use of the language and the ability to keep even sub-sub-sections organized and to the point.

I turned to this book because I'm writing an evaluation of Washington State's substance abuse prevention efforts during the last few years, and my boss requested that I analyze it from the perspective of the public health model. I needed a review, and this book provided exactly what I needed.

I especially enjoyed the open, honest statements in the preface about how difficult it was to define public health during the author's involvement in establishing the School of Public Health in the University at Albany. The book is a delight to read and oh-so-useful. ... Read more

Book Description

Teaching users how to transcribe actual medical dictation so that they can develop the selective hearing skills and experience necessary to gain competency as a medical transcriptionist, this guide offers a unique combination of authentic physician dictation by body systems, coordinated readings and exercises by medical specialty, and supplementary information vital to every medical transcriptionist.Supports text with six hours of authentic physical dictatio n—not synthetic studio recording; all dictation are carefully selected for subject matter, professionally edited to delete confidential identifying information, and then sequenced in a way to promote comprehension and encourage learning. Groups tapes by medical specialty (i.e., dermatology, urology, gastroenterology, cardiology, pulmonary medicine, endocrinology, orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, otorhinolaryngology, and radiology), with each dictation report offering the best example of its typefor vocabulary density, technical content, and other instructional criteria; each report includes chart notes, letters, initial office valuations, consultations, history and physical examinations, discharge summaries, operative reports, emergency department reports, procedure notes, and diagnostic studies from each medical specialty. Includes a CD-ROM containing all the audio dictation along with on-screen audio controls and a word processing unit, plus a medical transcript central website.Fo r anyone in the medical profession who wants to learn basic medical transcription, including medical assistants and legal transcription/court reporters. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great book but missing one very important thing?!?!?!?
This is a great learning tool for the beginning transcriptionist. It is easy to read and flows well. I am very excited about the learning opportunity it provides. There is only one very large problem. You need the CD-ROM that should come with the book. This version does not include the CR-ROM. The ISBN # for the same book with the CD included is 0 13 018735 6 and you will have to special order it from Amazon. If you don't you will have to order the CD seperately. That is if you can find it (I tried with no luck) and it is not cheap. The book with the CD included is much more cost effective. I hope this information helps. ... Read more