Coding Education nto Reinforce Coding Guidlines

The OIG has made it very clear that it sees coding and billing as currently the biggest compliance risks for every health care provider. In the OIG's Compliance Program Guidance and in every settlement to date, the OIG has stated that "general compliance education is required for all provider employees, but additional focused training is recommended for individuals in higher risk areas, like coding and billing." In addition to training on basic coding issues, every provider should use their coding policy manual as a basis for ongoing education and training of its coding staff. More importantly, the coding manager should keep records of the education sessions drawn from the coding policy manual and document the content of the meetings as well as who was in attendance. In addition, each coder should be required to take periodic quizzes on different sections of the policy manual. These records will serve as evidence that the coding staff understood and was familiar with the organization's coding manual.