No place like home: faced with a shortage of clinical coders, some healthcare providers are finding that developing home-based opportunities can aid staff retention and improve their bottom line - Feature Story

Healthcare Financial Management, July, 2003 by Teresa Benavidez, Beth Friedman

Within three months of implementation, Seton filled all coding vacancies with home coders. The organization currently has a full staff of experienced coders. Also, coders are more willing to work overtime now that they are based in their homes, providing the organization with yet another tool to overcome staff shortages and manage workload. Because Seton's home coders have fewer distractions, noncoding responsibilities have been reduced and work hours are more flexible. The result has been improved productivity.

Web-based home coding may not solve staffing issues for every healthcare organization. However, as Seton's experience shows, some organizations may find this option is useful for attracting and retaining qualified coders, and subsequently improving the bottom lines.

(a.) Zeisset, Ann, "Coding on the Home Front," Journal of AHIMA, April 2002, pp. 73-75.

RELATED ARTICLE: AT-A-GLANCE

To ease staffing burdens, Seton Healthcare Network established a home coding program.

* DNFB claims pending the health information management department's code assignment consistently decreased, reducing the organization's dollars holding by 25 percent.

* Decreases in contract and as-needed labor contributed to an operational cost savings of about $200,000 per year.

* The organization was able to fill all of its coding vacancies.

DID YOU KNOW?

Recruiting and retaining experienced, qualified clinical coders can be even more difficult than filling nursing vacancies. In 2001, the American Hospital Association conducted a workforce study that demonstrated an 18 percent vacancy rate for clinical coding and billing personnel, with nursing vacancies at 11 percent.

Source: AHA Workforce Study, 2001.

SCORE ONE FOR CODERS

How important are coders to a healthcare organization's financial well-being? One corporate integrity agreement includes a scoring mechanism where the provider loses five points for coder turnover and only two points for losing a CEO or CFO.

Source: HCA.

About the authors

Teresa Benavidez, RHIA is director, health information management, for five of the eight hospitals within the Seton Healthcare Network, Austin, Tex.

Beth Friedman, RHIT is director of marketing, eWebCoding, Atlanta, and is a member of HFMA's Georgia Chapter.

Questions or comments about this article can be sent to Teresa Benavidez at tbenavidez@seton.org.