Tuesday, March 16, 12:15 PM - 1:45 PM   Coding and documentation had better be correct for several reasons. First, the recovery audit contractors (RACs) are scrutinizing hospital records to ensure that Medicare has not overpaid. These contractors get a percentage of what they recover, so expect them to be very thorough.

Monday, March 15, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM Richard Satava, MD, a professor of surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle, will deliver the Bishop Lecture. He will discuss such topics as robotic surgery, virtual reality, surgical simulation and other high-tech applications. In an address to the media, ACC Program Chair James McClurken said that Satava will discuss some controversial topics, so stay tuned.

Sunday, March 14, 12:15 PM - 1:45 PM Grab some food, find a table and listen to experts discuss how you can improve quality, whether youre in a small or large or academic or private practice. This is just the right type of informal gathering that ACC.10 attendees should take in. The government is increasingly asking for more documented quality improvements, and facilities also want to enact their own quality benchmarks. With meaningful use of EHR deadlines approaching, how do practices put it all together? No doubt, this session will prove valuable in that regard.

Sunday, March 14, 2010, 12:15 PM - 1:45 PM   What is a better way to learn more about the inner workings of the government regarding healthcare reform than to listen to two insiders! This is definitely the place you want to be on Sunday at noon. Id suggest arriving early to get a good seat as this is the hottest topic in town.

Sunday, March 14, 10:30 AM - 2:30 PM  As part of a four-hour practice administrators program, Cathleen D. Biga will deliver a lecture titled: Emerging into 2010, Preparing for 2011: EMR Stimulus and Meaningful Use Criteria/Quality Initiative. The title is a mouthful but Biga is known for her practice management skills and she will no doubt deliver the goods.

Sunday, March 14, 9:30 AM -12:30 PM   While Dr. David Blumenthal and Aneesh Chopra, two keynote speakers, will focus on broad areas of health IT, the posters in this session deal with many everyday clinical challenges that electronic connectivity poses.

Sunday, March 14, 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM   Aneesh Chopra, the first federal chief technology officer (CTO) of the U.S., will deliver the closing keynote address Sunday afternoon on certification of health IT. He also will highlight the current and future state of health information exchanges (HIEs) and issues dealing with interoperability, data standards and clinical messaging.

Sunday March 14, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM   Attendees had better arrive early for this one because it is likely to be standing-room only. With many practices and hospitals implementing or updating EHRs, the hard-learned lessons in this session from those who have ventured into this electronic territory will be welcomed by many.