Computer Assisted Coding

What About the Coders?

There has been much written and discussed about the impact of ICD-10 on health care providers, payers and the entire revenue cycle management process. What about the impact on the people actually performing the function – the coders? As their roles are reengineered through the transition to ICD-10, coders must commit to embracing this change, learn the new ICD-10 coding scheme, and increase their medical knowledge to adjust to the increased coding complexity.

As the ICD-10 deadline approaches, there will likely be more pressure placed on medical coders to help keep productivity levels high, while helping transition to the new ICD-10 supporting business processes. If coders are going to succeed during this phase, they will need support from their health care facility in regards to structured training opportunities and interim coding staffing support.

ICD-10 codes are more specific, so most coders will need to improve their knowledge of anatomy, physiology and medical terminology, and use this knowledge to assign the correct code. They will also need to learn how to effectively use new technologies such as computer-assisted coding (CAC).

In the past decade, in medical transcription field, the use of speech recognition has become more common. Some transcriptionists did not adapt well to the changing technology and work processes and found themselves looking for new work! Will the same effect be seen among medical coders?

In speaking with members of the coding staff at Diskriter, coders see ICD-10 not as a threat but rather as a career opportunity. As one coder commented, “With the training I am receiving at Diskriter, I now have an opportunity to gain new knowledge and increase my professional skills. I have more awareness that as coders we are a very important part of the revenue cycle process.”

Computer Assisted Coding / Diskriter Company Blog / ICD 10 Transition — No Comments
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Aug 13

Total Quality: It Starts with Great People

Diskriter Quality Metircs

Quality is often associated with processes, procedures, metrics and auditing, and these are important components to delivering quality results. At Diskriter, however, the foundation for our quality program begins and ends with our team of skilled, dedicated professionals – our people.

To ensure quality, we recruit and hire the best Medical Transcriptionists (MTs) Language Specialists in the business. Our team members must have a minimum three years of experience in their specialty. We conduct thorough testing of all candidates, including medical terminology, grammar, abbreviations, formatting and editing.

Once a person is hired, we provide them with ongoing training and support. We audit each team member’s work, not to focus on their mistakes, but to gain information we can use to continually help them improve in their role.

We have found that when you give people more authority, they are more satisfied in their job and perform better. Diskriter team members are provided the authority required to make the best decisions for our clients, to ensure we deliver a high quality result.

Diskriter encourages a team environment. Our staff members work together to solve problems and respond to client questions and concerns. Our team members know that if we truly focus on delivering quality products and services to our client, we will all succeed together.