Kerstin Laub

· Participate in and advise the Office of Information and Information Governance (OIIG) healthcare Security Team on healthcare security issues.

· Define system configuration requirements specific to ensuring product healthcare security both for development, integrity and for ensuring the product incorporates required healthcare security features.

· Working knowledge of the system/software development life cycle (SDLC) and healthcare security requirements for Heath Care Information Systems

· Conduct Business Associate Agreement (BAA) assessments.

· Participate in OIG FISMA/FISCAM and ITSI Audits to ensure VHA facility compliance with NIST 800 SP 53 healthcare security requirements.

· Implement, manage, and evaluate the Privacy, Freedom of Information Act, and Record Management programs in the facility by distributing information, preparing facility-specific policy guidance, reviewing facility processes and procedures for compliance with program requirements, and assessing the facility privacy posture through periodic evaluation of the facility's collection, use, storage, and maintenance of sensitive personal information.

· Represent the agency on facility and regional committees, teams, and workgroups and provide guidance on issues related to the use and disclosure of information and privacy-related functions.

· Developed policies and procedures to comply with new and/or changed programs such as VHA, JCAHO, Corporate Compliance, Medicare Regulations, and others.

· Provided advice, assistance, and guidance in response to questions or problems concerning policy determinations such as use and management of the computerized medical record, release of information, privacy and information security, and coding requirements to optimize third-party reimbursements. Meets directly with local leadership to coordinate and resolve specific questions or problems.

· Managed outsourced transcription and coding contracts and provided oversight to ensure charges are appropriate and the quality of service is accurate and timely.

· As Chair of the Health Information Committee, advised medical staff, management, and others regarding JCAHO, VISN, VA, and medical/legal requirements for medical records and interrelating fields.

· Developed facility medical record review process that facilitated the constant monitoring of the completion of medical record reviews by all clinical areas and ensure the review of identified outliers to ensure corrective action.

· Served as the Facility Nuance Speech Recognition Point of Contact to support and champion the implementation of the Nuance Speech Recognition vendor software across VISN 2.

· Served as the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) Health Facility Lead to support and championed the implementation of VLER Health at the facility.

· Worked closely with the Compliance and Business Integrity Office as a member of the Compliance and Business Integrity (CBI) and Integrated Ethics initiatives.

· Served as Secretary of the National Professional Standards Board for Medical Record Technicians (Release of Information) 2015-2016

· Prepared written correspondence in response to inquiries from Veterans, Congressional Offices, Human Resources, the Office of Civil Rights, the New York State Department of Health, and others.

· Directly supervised, coordinated, and provided oversight to the Release of Information, File Room, Scanning, and Transcription/Record Review Room sections of the HIMS department

Including, but not limited to, employee travel, human resources, timekeeping, correspondence, meeting coordination, surveys/data roll-ups, the All Employee Survey (AES), staff education and training, and procurement to ensure accuracy and timely completion of projects.

· Oversaw all ongoing activities related to receiving, processing, and responding to Freedom of Information Act inquiries for the medical center.

· Assisted the coding department as needed with outpatient and professional fee coding by accurately assigning ICD-9 and CPT codes to outpatient patient and professional fee encounters.

· Assigned diagnosis and procedure codes based on medical record documentation using ICD-9-CM and CPT-4 Coding classification systems, and HCPCS Level II Codes.

· Worked closely with Medical Care Cost Fund (MCCF), Utilization Management staff as well as other employees within the facility to ensure accurate and complete coding and maximize revenue.

· Effectively planned and organized work under the general supervision of the supervisor to ensure compliance with JCAHO and VA coding time limits.