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5 REASONS WHY CODING & DOCUMENTATION AUDITS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER

All health information management (HIM) leaders know that coding quality audits are critical. We can all agree the consequences of substandard coding – lost revenue, increased denials, and greater compliance risk – make the development of a comprehensive coding audit program a priority for healthcare providers of all sizes. Unfortunately, scarce resources and conflicting priorities force many providers to compromise their compliance programs. But now more than ever, audits of coding and documentation quality are critical to the success of healthcare providers.

There is no doubt, attendees of last week’s ACDIS 2018 conference will be speaking about it for months to come. The conference was comprised of over 90 speakers including physicians, registered nurses, health information management (HIM) administrators, certified clinical documentation specialists (CDIS) and certified documentation improvement practitioners (CDMP) to name a few. The tracks included something for everyone: Clinical & Coding, Management & Leadership, Quality & Regulatory, Expansion & Innovation, Outpatient and Pediatric. Needless to say, the educational opportunities were vast and it would be nearly impossible to share them all.

The importance of accuracy and compliance in today's coding environment cannot be overstated. High-quality coding is always a priority – but is there a way to make coding impervious to challenges? Unfortunately, the answer is “NO.”  There is no magic wand that can be waived, spell that can be cast, or cape that you can use to ensure your coding program is invincible.  The fact of the matter is that no two medical records are documented in the same manner and most coding clinics can be interpreted differently.