ACDIS tips: Six training recommendations from a hospital coding educator

In addition to CDI educators, some organizations have coding educators on staff. These professionals can be an asset in keeping departments up to date on constantly evolving coding guidelines and annual code updates, says  Chrystel Barron, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CHTS-TR, CICA, CHRI, coding education instructor, inpatient facility coding, and health information management, coding education and quality, with the Cleveland Clinic. Barron shared the following tips from her experience as a coding educator:

1. Don’t expect the coding staff to memorize all the Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting, or to read every Coding Clinic and CPT Assistant cover to cover. When new issues are released, choose questions to highlight and review them in educational sessions.
2. Encourage staff to discuss topics they find confusing to identify future educational needs.
3. Stress to staff that they should not avoid working a chart of a certain service line because they lack confidence. Present challenging charts as examples in educational sessions so they can gain experience and enough confidence to tackle these areas, do research, and learn the coding rationale. If they encounter an error, remind them to use it as a learning opportunity for future charts.
4. Use visual media as teaching tools when reviewing procedure coding. Helping coders visualize what they are reading is extremely helpful. Remember different people have different learning styles and the more varied the learning approach the greater the retention of key topics by greater numbers of the staff.
5. Try to involve CDI staff in coding education meetings. Discussion between the two teams during education can be helpful to compare the thoughts of clinical versus nonclinical viewpoints.
6. Incorporate quiz questions into education sessions to reinforce the information being presented and to further engage the audience.

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the National Association of Healthcare Revenue Integrity Journal. To learn more about CDI educator roles, click here. To learn more about the ACDIS CDI Educator Networking Group, click here.