Targeted education for clinicians and clinical coding staff improves the accuracy of clinical coding: a quality improvement project
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The allocation of healthcare resources is reliant upon accurate information generated through clinical coding. Several factors contribute to coding inaccuracies, one of which is interpreting medical documentation. A lack of awareness among medical staff of the clinical coding process and the importance of detailed documentation exacerbates this problem. To investigate this further, 1 month of inpatient clinical coding data from a single hospital ward was reviewed by clinicians experienced in the coding and auditing process. If the reviewing clinician identified inaccuracies in the initial clinical coding, Healthcare Resource Group (HRG) codes were changed. Education sessions were then provided both to junior clinicians working on the hospital ward and to clinical coding staff and a further month of clinical coding data was again reviewed to assess for any difference after the sessions. HRG changes were made in 58.5% of 94 cases initially. Following the educational sessions, 20.5% of HRGs changed in 73 cases (p<0.0001), indicating more accurate initial clinical coding. There were also statistically significant reductions in the extent to which the primary and secondary diagnoses were changed. This study demonstrates that targeted education sessions for both junior clinicians and clinical coding staff can improve the accuracy of inpatient clinical coding.
Date Issued
2024-03-01
Date Acceptance
2024-09-01
Citation
Future Healthcare Journal, 2024, 11 (1)
ISSN
2514-6645
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Journal / Book Title
Future Healthcare Journal
Volume
11
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Royal College of Physicians. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38689701
PII: S2514-6645(24)01516-9
Subjects
Clinical coding
Education
Quality improvement project
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
100127
Date Publish Online
2024-09-13