Deborah Collier Email and Phone Number

Management of the day-to-day organizational and administrative operations of the Health Information Management Department. Serve as a resource regarding medical record content, coding, and regulatory requirements for documentation and electronic health record system. Serve as the hospital’s Chief Privacy Officer to ensure compliance with privacy and release of information regulatory standards.

Management of local and regional HIM departmental operations for large integrated network of hospitals, medical foundation and service lines. Scope of responsibilities include staffing, budget, implementation and content management of EHR to maintain data integrity; change management, process improvement; audits for quality and productivity. Manage activities that support patient satisfaction and compliance with accreditation and regulatory standards. Provision of customer service to internal and external customers. Management of release of information services for requests related to continuity of patient care, patient request, legal, regulatory chart audits.Support process for compliance with privacy and security regulations including preventive measures for release of information breachAssist with coordination of the process enabling patients gaining access to personal health record using the patient portal. Facilitate and support ICD10 preparedness including projects for best practices in coding audit and education.Retrieval and review of standard and ad-hoc report queries to support monitoring quality, productivity and other statistical information required for short term and long term operational goals. Consulting engagements include work at hospital organizations Sutter Health, Tenet Healthcare, and Kaiser Permanente.

Adjunct Faculty member to provide assistance as needed, with instruction of required courses for Health IT program. Currently teaching class on Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Basic Pharmacology.The EHR course covers the content for basic knowledge and skills necessary for implementation, maintenance, and usability related to health information Technology (IT) and EHR systems. Learning outcomes include database architecture and design, roles and responsibilities of various providers and disciplines to support documentation requirements, throughout the continuum of healthcare. The Pharmacology course content includes basic concepts in pharmacology requirement. Introduces routes of drug administration, measurements systems, drug chemistry types, generic names and brand names, drug usage, contraindications and precautions, drug interactions, and side effects. Discusses use of the physician desk reference (PDR) and other reference resources, along with drug classes as they related to body systems, disease, and conditions.

Perform management responsibilities for Record Quality including Analysis, Abstracting, Record Completion, Medical Transcription, Cancer Registry, and Core Measures Coordinate all activities related to the implementation and follow-up of hospital wide on-going chart review and data collection for The Joint Commission (TJC), focus reviews, and core measures documentation for quality improvement and reporting requirements. Managed the use of the CPR Technologies software used for input of data from the chart reviews; retrieval of data to report to various committees to track and trend compliance and opportunities to improve compliance with documentation standards for delivery of quality patient careFacilitate the implementation and training for software application upgrades to HID department applicationsParticipate in the evaluation and assessment activities for selection of software applications and modules used for reportingAssist with workflows and testing for hospital systems and department specific downstream applications.Participate in the coordination and planning for transition to an electronic health recordReview current procedures to determine how they can be streamlined to allow increased productivity and quality.Supervise and manage staff of 50+ employees and temporary contract staff. Manage the chart review criteria, data collection, retrieval and reporting to support hospital wide performance improvement and quality monitoring programsMaintain quality assurance program for specific operational functions and workflows.Manage activities that support the Cancer Registry programProvided assistance with the in-service training to hospital staff regarding HIPAA compliance requirements

Directed all administrative, professional, budget, and technical functions of the Health Information Management Department, including on-going chart review, medical transcription, coding, and release of information, chart analysis, assembly, record completion activities, clinical data retrieval and reports.Coordinated all ongoing activities related to the development, implementation, and maintenance of the privacy practices, policies and procedures in accordance with HIPAA and state laws; completed HIPAA Gap Analysis; develop HIPAA Awareness and training for over 400 employees and medical staff Developed and monitored productivity standards that resulted in improved productivity. Modified work flow, evaluated job assignments, cross-trained staff that cleared existing backlogsImplemented new procedures for incomplete record processing that resulted in the reduction of the delinquency rate from 90% to 50% within six months.Actively participated in on-going chart review for TJC requirementsAssessment of procedural issues with an end-result in the reduction of the Bill Hold average from $8 million to $3 million.

Performed application support services for 40 client hospitals with a focus on health information departmental functions and applications. Developed training materials that served as a reliable resource for the Health Information users.Provided software installation and training sessions that improved the end-user computer skills. Efficient use of the system facilitated a significant reduction of accounts receivable days. Provided on-going technical services and support to various Health Information Management Departments. This required occasional travel for on-site support as needed.Conducted testing and implementation of software releases specific to HIM applications such as the Medicare Grouper, payment calculator, APC, MPI, Chart Completion, and coding updates.Researched and prepared specification documentation for software enhancements and system interfaces.Coordinated the management and implementation of software releases within the target deadline datesDeveloped documentation for testing and implementation procedures.

Managed staff and day-to-day operations for Application Support services, including support of medical record, clinical and patient accounting systems; quality control testing, installation and training for acute care hospitals.