The Rheumatologist
COVID-19 News
  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed
  • Home
  • Conditions
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • SLE (Lupus)
    • Crystal Arthritis
      • Gout Resource Center
    • Spondyloarthritis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Soft Tissue Pain
    • Scleroderma
    • Vasculitis
    • Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes
    • Guidelines
  • Resource Centers
    • Ankylosing Spondylitis Resource Center
    • Gout Resource Center
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
  • Drug Updates
    • Biologics & Biosimilars
    • DMARDs & Immunosuppressives
    • Topical Drugs
    • Analgesics
    • Safety
    • Pharma Co. News
  • Professional Topics
    • Ethics
    • Legal
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Career Development
      • Certification
      • Education & Training
    • Awards
    • Profiles
    • President’s Perspective
    • Rheuminations
  • Practice Management
    • Billing/Coding
    • Quality Assurance/Improvement
    • Workforce
    • Facility
    • Patient Perspective
    • Electronic Health Records
    • Apps
    • Information Technology
    • From the College
    • Multimedia
      • Audio
      • Video
  • Resources
    • Issue Archives
    • ACR Convergence
      • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
      • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
      • Gout Resource Center
      • Abstracts
      • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence Home
    • American College of Rheumatology
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Research Reviews
    • ACR Journals
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
    • Rheumatology Image Library
    • Treatment Guidelines
    • Rheumatology Research Foundation
    • Events
  • About Us
    • Mission/Vision
    • Meet the Authors
    • Meet the Editors
    • Contribute to The Rheumatologist
    • Subscription
    • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Search
You are here: Home / Articles / Med Student Documentation Guidelines Need Careful Implementation

Med Student Documentation Guidelines Need Careful Implementation

January 18, 2019 • By Will Boggs, MD

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version / Save PDF

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—New student-documentation guidelines from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) require careful implementation to avoid reductions in meaningful teaching physician involvement, according to a new report.

You Might Also Like
  • CMS Repeals Documentation Guidelines for Teaching Physicians
  • Documentation Guidelines for Proper Medical Decision Making
  • Electronic Health Record Documentation Guidelines

The revised Medicare Claims Processing Manual allows the teaching physician to verify in the medical record any student documentation of services, rather than re-documenting their work. While this could improve medical-student training by giving them more practice writing notes, adding value to patient care, and taking a more active role in that care, there are concerns about potential unintended outcomes.

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

“Students are in desperate need of education about documentation, and this change was implemented to create an incentive for teaching physicians to spend more time providing feedback on this important aspect of physicianship,” said Dr. Todd Cassese from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in New York City.

“I think an individual physician will have to determine how to ensure the educational experience doesn’t suffer in the implementation by seeing students as cheap documentation labor rather than as learners in need of guidance,” he told Reuters Health by email.

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

In their report, online Jan. 15 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Dr. Cassese and colleagues address three such concerns. First, they fear that medical-student education on note writing will become overly focused on billing at the expense of clinical reasoning and medical decision-making.

This could also lead teaching physicians to concentrate their feedback on whether student notes have achieved specific coding levels rather than on aspects of the note that are more important to medical education.

Second, they worry that students’ ability to write billable notes might not lead teaching physicians to spend more time with them. Even with the reduction in documentation burden, the need to review and approve each student note may not increase a physician’s desire or allocated time to teach students.

ad goes here:advert-3
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Third, the authors are concerned that the revision could further propagate the use of medical students as “student scribes” rather than as meaningful team members contributing to patient care. It isn’t even clear that serving as a scribe has any meaningful educational benefit for medical students.

“Medical school curricula are in great flux right now,” Dr. Cassese said. “One of the major driving factors for the widespread curriculum revision is the intent for students to become major drivers of change in the health care system. How best to teach students to do this is still an active area of scholarship, and we need to be thoughtful about what we are asking students to do, how it will help them learn, and how that impacts the quality of care we provide.”

Pages: 1 2 | Single Page

Filed Under: Career Development, Education & Training, Professional Topics Tagged With: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicare Claims Processing Manua, student-documentation guidelines

You Might Also Like:
  • CMS Repeals Documentation Guidelines for Teaching Physicians
  • Documentation Guidelines for Proper Medical Decision Making
  • Electronic Health Record Documentation Guidelines
  • Apply for ARHP’s Graduate Student Award

Rheumatology Research Foundation

The Foundation is the largest private funding source for rheumatology research and training in the U.S.

Learn more »

Meeting Abstracts

Browse and search abstracts from the ACR Convergence and ACR/ARP Annual Meetings going back to 2012.

Visit the Abstracts site »

American College of Rheumatology

Visit the official website for the American College of Rheumatology.

Visit the ACR »

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.

About Us / Contact Us / Advertise / Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed

Copyright © 2006–2021 American College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1931-3268 (print)
ISSN 1931-3209 (online)

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
This site uses cookies: Find out more.