Healthy People 2030 defines social determinants of health as “the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.” Addressing social determinants of health has increasingly gained importance for improving health outcomes and reducing disparities.
According to a 2016 National Academies of Medicine (NAM) report, greater investment in addressing social risk factors versus clinical care yields greater improvements in health, especially for disadvantaged populations (Adler et al., 2016). The collection of patients’ social determinants data can provide critical insights into how these social risk factors impact their health and quality of life.
The CMS Office of Minority Health reports that one barrier to consistent collection of patient social determinants data is a lack of knowledge about Z codes, the special group of codes provided in ICD-10-CM to document social determinants of health. Of the 33.1 million fee-for-service beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare in 2019, only 1.59% had claims with Z codes (Mukset et al., 2021). Healthcare organizations can play an important role in advancing the collection of social determinants data.
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In this webinar, our presenters will:
- Discuss the importance of identifying patients’ social determinants of health and providing linkages to resources to address them.
- Discuss how accurate, standardized collection of meaningful social determinants of health data can drive quality improvement and identify health disparities.
- How to address barriers that limit the ability to track social determinant data in EHRs.
- How to properly document social determinants of health using Z codes.
- What reimbursement opportunities are available using Z codes.
Speakers
Andrea Green, RN
Manager, Healthcare Strategy, SDOH
Andrea Green currently assists in the execution of market planning and strategy for the Social Determinants of Health Product solutions. As a licensed registered nurse with a background in clinical Informatics, she provides subject matter expertise on insights and use of SDOH data. Prior to joining LexisNexis, Ms. Green worked as a Chief Nursing Informatics Officer at Trinity Health Of New England, holding an MBA in Healthcare Administration from Western Governors University.
Karen Scott, MEd, RHIA, CCS-P. CPC, FAHIMA, AHIMA Approved ICD-10 Trainer
Director of Education and Training, TruCode Owner, Karen Scott Seminars and Consulting
Karen Scott is Director of Education and Training at TruCode, and owner of Karen Scott Seminars and Consulting. She has been an educator for many years including teaching in the HIM Programs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Arkansas Tech University. She has worked as an HIM director in an acute care hospital setting, training director for a national transcription company, and reimbursement specialist for a regional physician’s group. She is past-president of both the Tennessee and Arkansas Health Information Management Associations, past-chair of the AHIMA Council on Certification and past CAHIIM Commissioner. She served a three year term as director on the AHIMA Board of Directors and currently sits on the AHIMA Foundation Board of Directors.
Karen is an AHIMA Approved ICD-10 Trainer. She teaches seminars throughout the country and has written textbooks including Coding and Reimbursement for Hospital Inpatient Services and Medical Coding For Non-Coders: Understanding Coding and Reimbursement in Today’s Healthcare Industry.