Journal of AHIMA Coding Notes: Coding Quality for Hospital-Acquired Physician Groups
Journal of AHIMA Coding Notes: Coding Quality for Hospital-Acquired Physician Groups
Karen Youmans, MPA, RHIA, CCS, President and CEO of YES HIM Consulting, and Vanessa Youmans, MA, RHIA, CCS, CPC, COO, co-authored their latest ProFee Case Study on physician groups in the Journal of AHIMA – October Edition.
AS HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS strive for continuous efficiency and sustainability, mergers and acquisitions (M&A)among diverse medical facilities provides organizations new opportunities to reduce costs and generate a larger footprint in both current and new markets. As this trend continues, health information management (HIM) departments continue to acquire new coding professionals and additional coding responsibilities. However, some healthcare systems may lack resources to take over additional workloads that result from an acquisition. Such a transition may necessitate professional pro-fee coding, which is significantly different than facility coding. In addition, it is important to implement a coding quality improvement plan for the pro-fee side of newly acquired responsibilities as a result of M&A activities.
The coding quality improvement plan consists of five main pillars:
- Quality audits
- Coder mentoring
- Coding support
- Coding education programs
- Coding policies and guidelines standardization
Find the full article at Journal of AHIMA – Coding Notes, here: www.ahimajournal-digital.com/ahimajournal/october_2019
Download the full ProFee Coding Quality Improvement Case Study for physician groups here. YES HIM Consulting’s team of qualified coders and auditors are ready to help you implement these best practices aimed toward improving your team’s coding quality. Contact our team to start building your action plan.
