Coding of Health Information - Essay Example

It was observed that manual management of chart analysis slows down the physician and health information team’s productivity, negatively affecting the billing process, which in turn affects the revenue cycle of the institution. Chart deficiencies may be in the form of incomplete chart components, missing signatures, and in some cases, entire charts may be missing. Physicians can deal with chart deficiencies from any location of the Health Information System (Garber, Gross, & Slonim, 2010). The clinic achieved this using Chart Deficiency Tracker, which made it easy for the physicians to identify any chart deficiencies and monitor these (Garber, Gross, & Slonim, 2010). This tracker also enabled the supervisors to assign tasks related to chart deficiencies to specific physicians. Through this tracking system information was easily disseminated to physicians and the clinic’s staff. Patient charts were also completed more efficiently and in compliance with the recommended timelines and standards.

The clinic had discovered that relying on documentation in paper form to code charts delayed the receipt of and sending of information to and from coders causing delays in the billing of patients and further limiting the staff’s productivity (Garber, Gross, & Slonim, 2010).

Garber, Gross, & Slonim (2010) explained that when it comes to the disposal of health information, it is important that clinics and health providers apply caution to safeguard the privacy of health information. The clinic applied measures to avoid the disclosure of patient information in the disposal of charts and medical documents. For example, charts were shredded and later burnt in the clinic’s incinerator. Data on electronic media was cleared using software that overwrites it with data that was not sensitive.

The health and information management personnel are in charge of ensuring that medical charts are completed promptly to protect the clinic from legal suits and to improve the process and time of billing to increase the productivity of the staff and the clinic’s revenue cycle (Garber, Gross, & Slonim, 2010).