AHA recommends CMS actions to reduce burden of clinical documentation

The AHA today shared with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services a number of actions that the agency could take as part of its calendar year 2020 physician fee schedule proposed rule that would reduce the burden of clinical documentation. “The time spent documenting patient visits is time that providers cannot spend in face-to-face interaction with patients – negatively impacting patient care and provider well-being,” AHA said. Among other recommendations, AHA urged CMS to return the medical record to the dynamic patient narrative it was designed to be and a tool that supports provider-to-provider interaction; improve the accuracy and usability of medication lists; and improve the security, portability and management of patient data by testing the usability of block chain.