The livelihood of every health care organization rests upon correctly
coded data. This is true from a basic financial tenant – coding
drives reimbursement – as well as a compliance perspective. While all of
the resources noted above are excellent resources for various pieces of
coding information and guidance, they can be meaningless without the
health care organization itself sifting through all of the information and
translating it into provider-specific coding guidelines. Essentially, the
health care organization needs to develop a dynamic "living"
document that reflects official coding guidelines and fills in the blanks
with quasi official resources and provider-specific interpretation of how
those quasi official resources should be applied by the coding staff of
the health care provider.
The use of well-documented comprehensive coding policies will:
- Provide consistency, accuracy and reliability of the coded data in a
provider’s database;
- Assure sound and ethical coding practices; and
- Provide back up if coding practices are questioned by the
government, payor or other third party.
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