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Some twenty employees of the Public Hospitals Authority have commenced advanced training in medical coding and billing through an on-going partnership between the PHA and Healthcare Associates Training & Temp Centre. The 2nd phase of the program, which began in September, will run for 12 months and result in successful participants being certified through the American Academy of Professional Coders.
Coding of medical records is critical for generating information for hospitals, and more importantly, national statistics for local and international reporting. The absence of coded health records significantly hampers the PHA's ability to obtain information for strategic planning and reporting purposes; and it constrains revenue collection which would be used to maintain and upgrade existing hospital services as required.
Earlier this year thirty-five employees from the Princess Margaret Hospital and Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre completed ten weeks of introductory training in Medical Coding and Billing principles and practices (in accordance with AHIMA international standards). From that number twenty have been selected for advanced training, reflecting the PHA’s commitment to address a longstanding shortfall of medical coders within the country. Prior to the implementation of this initiative there were less than fifty certified medical coders in the entire country, with only two working in the public sector.
It is anticipated that the successful completion of this training will afford the PHA the ability to improve capacity for timely and effective patient billing for revenue enhancement; and strengthen organizational ability for production of quality clinical and management information.
