Computer-assisted coding (CAC) is a hot topic these days. Many industry experts claim that CAC is the wave of the future—that its accuracy has been proven, and that humans cannot match its productivity. With CAC, elements such as fatigue, stress, and inexperience are no longer factors that can negatively affect code assignment. Many articles and vendors sing its praises. However, is it really all that? Robert S. Gold, MD, and Lori Cushing, RHIT, CCS, discuss some relevant concepts.
When Jim Brown, FHFMA, RHIA, CCS, started working at Jefferson Regional Medical Center in early November 2010, he quickly realized that there were a number of opportunities to improve their health information management operations and efficiencies. In this article, Brown shares strategies and tips for how he and his management team were able to identify areas that needed improvement and reduce department expenses and come in 9.5% ($149K) under budget for the end of fiscal year 2011.
