The health information management department plays an essential role in dictating the quality of care a patient receives while in the hospital. Furthermore, this department also aids in reducing the time taken between the first contact with a patient and coming up with a working diagnosis (McCullough et al. 2016). From the case study at hand, St. Catherine Medical Center’s HIM department is generally acceptable, though an audit by The Joint Commission found that it lacked time stamps on its electronic health records (Joint Commission, 2018). Additionally, the hospital lacks a uniform system of coding, whereby senior staff prefers the manual coding book, while the new staff implements the new encoder system. Other than that, the hospital has no problem when it comes to meeting the coding productivity standards of the ICD-9 at four inpatient charts per hour.
St. Luke’s Hospital uses a first-generation EHR system that experiences issues communicating with other systems in the department. This leads to the delayed processing time of information since lab reports have to be manually scanned into the system. In a bid to adopt the new system, the hospital trained one encoder into the new system, but she unfortunately resigned. This left the coders using a more manual approach to the solution by looking up the codebook then using paper binders to ensure the codes were correct. This results in much time wasted that would have otherwise been utilized, serving the patient better. To add salt to injury, the coding supervisor is a fresh graduate and does not get along with the subordinates who have more coding experience. Unlike St. Catherine, the hospital utilizes the revised ICD-10 coding standards.
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Lastly, Hickman Community Hospital has an HIM department with no accredited AHIMA staff, nor does it have coding quantity or quality expectations set in place. Moreover, the hospital still uses paper-based records and manual coding books, leading to long waits in service turnarounds (Akhu-Zaheya et al. 2018). The hospital also lacks a HIM manager since the qualified one was deemed unfit by the hiring committee since he was African American and used a wheelchair. The department also lacks any form of diversity among its staff leading to decreased morale and efficiency among its staff (Johnson, 2019).
References
Akhu‐Zaheya, L., Al‐Maaitah, R., & Bany Hani, S. (2018). Quality of nursing documentation: Paper‐based health records versus electronic‐based health records. Journal of Clinical Nursing , 27 (3-4), e578-e589.
Johnson, R. (2019). What are the Advantages of a Diverse Workforce? Chron . http:// smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-diverse-workforce-18780.html
Joint Commission. (2018). Resources. http://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/6/EP_Review_Prepub_Disposition_HAP_IM_P I_RC_20180108.pdf
McCullough, J. S., Parente, S. T., & Town, R. (2016). Health information technology and patient outcomes: the role of information and labor coordination. The RAND Journal of Economics , 47 (1), 207-236.
