For more than four decades, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has had as its mission the advancement of effective, up-to-date health-care coverage and the promotion of quality care for beneficiaries. Toward this end, CMS will launch a new data-collection system called CROWNWeb that allows end-stage renal disease (ESRD) facilities to report relevant data in an accurateand timely manner.

FOR NEPHROLOGY practices bringing a new physician on board and physicians searching for a practice, success ultimately is measured in terms of establishing a long-term relationship that meets the most critical needs of all involved and results in a seamless integration of new clinical staff.

When it comes to negotiating a physician agreement with a third-party payer, knowledge is power. There is a direct correlation between your level of success and how well-informed you are about payers' needs, their knowledge, and their bargaining strategies.

THE FIRST part of this article, which appeared in the August issue, discussed the benefits of the electronic health record, how to decide whether it is justified for a particular practice, and how to select and purchase a system. This second part provides guidance for installation and implementation.

AN ELECTRONIC health record (EHR) is an electronically stored documentation of a patient's total medical history, including records from all sources—the clinician's office, hospitals, other physicians, and pharmacies. The adoption of EHRs can transform your practice.

Recent changes in the diagnosis codes for hypertension will affect the billing for CKD patients. Coding for patients with both hypertension and kidney disease presents unique problems. It is not enough to determine whether the patient has “benign,” “malignant” or unspecified hypertension or to question the stage of CKD. Coding when both conditions are present requires careful consideration by the coding professional.