Medical coding is a world full of complex terminologies, ever-changing regulations, and strict guidelines. As patient volumes rise and healthcare services become increasingly demanding, the demand for accurate and efficient medical coding has surged. Despite the increase in demand for healthcare services, organizations are still facing budget constraints when hiring employees for in-house teams. A shift is underway, marked by the adoption of staff augmentation as a strategic solution. In this article, we will delve into the world of staff augmentation and why we see a rising demand for staff augmentation in medical coding.
What is Staff Augmentation?
Staff augmentation serves as a game-changer in the healthcare industry. It refers to the practice of outsourcing talent to skilled professionals working in a team. It is a strategic and innovative way to meet the demands of your business without spending too much on hiring. In healthcare, staff augmentation is helping providers navigate the issue of understaffing. Building an in-house team to meet the demands of your business can be time-consuming and resource-intensive. By opting for staff augmentation services, you can benefit from a team of skilled, talented, and experienced professionals without spending too much on hiring.
Staff augmentation is beneficial, especially when an organization has to meet short-term staff shortages or wants to work on a project. In healthcare, staff augmentation helps when a practice suddenly has an increased workload or requires a specifically skilled team. With staff augmentation for medical coders, practices can scale their coding team up or down whenever necessary without needing to invest in resources. They also get access to certified coders with in-depth knowledge and expertise about the different regulations, terminologies, and modifiers in the world of coding. By leveraging their expertise, your practice experiences accurate coding, reduced denials, and improved workflows.
Factors Driving the Demands for Staff Augmentation
Medical coding has always been intricate. However, medical coding has become increasingly intricate with the transition to electronic health records and the evolving regulatory landscape. Consequently, healthcare facilities are turning to staff augmentation as an innovative strategy to meet these challenges.
The rising demand for medical coding services is fuelled by a variety of reasons. These include:
Case for Human Error
Medical coding is dependent on the coder’s understanding and expertise. This is where most coding errors occur. Errors and inconsistencies due to misunderstandings lead to incorrect coding and then claim denials. It could be the case that different coders interpret a treatment or procedure differently, so there is a lack of uniformity caused by differences in experiences. Human errors like this lead to delays in reimbursement and affect the quality of care. With staff augmentation, healthcare providers gain access to a team of skilled, certified coders who have in-depth knowledge about different coding guidelines, the latest regulations, and different cases that could occur in the documentation. By leveraging the knowledge and expertise of certified staff, providers can experience a reduction in the number of errors and an increase in reimbursement.
Growing Complexity of Medical Coding Requirements
It is no secret that ever-changing regulations characterize the healthcare industry. The organizations responsible for maintaining the medical coding codes update them yearly. If your in-house coding team is not up to date on the latest updates and regulations, then chances are they are coding incorrectly. Thus, it is important to keep training them regularly. However, this amount of training can take up a lot of time and energy amidst the hefty coding demands. This is why providers started opting for staff augmentation services. With staff augmentation, providers could access a team of coders who have up-to-date industry knowledge and are certified by the biggest organizations. This helps ensure the right codes are being used when coding, thus preventing denials.
Increasing Patient Volume
The healthcare industry is experiencing an unprecedented surge in patient volumes, driven by population growth, aging patients, and increased access to healthcare services. With an increased number of patients seeking healthcare services, the workload for medical coders has also increased significantly. Staff augmentation offers a scalable solution, allowing healthcare facilities to promptly adapt to changes in patient volume without compromising the quality and accuracy of medical coding.
Documentation Issues
Sometimes, the issue is not only with the coder. Providers also fail to provide the coder with the ample amount of information necessary to choose the right codes. In such cases, it is the provider’s fault since they either provide incomplete documentation or illegible medical reports. When you opt for staff augmentation services, the coders in the team first ensure that the documentation submitted to them is complete and accurate. After the relevancy has been checked, they proceed to translate the procedures and treatments into code.
Shortage of Skilled Medical Coders
One of the most pressing challenges facing the healthcare industry is the shortage of skilled coders. As the demand grows, the supply of quality coders suffers. The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) has highlighted the shortage of medical coding professionals. Staff augmentation addresses this shortage by providing healthcare facilities with experienced coders, alleviating the strain on in-house teams.
Conclusion
Medical coding is complex and can be demanding. With the challenges providers face when it comes to coding, it is evident that most practices will start leveraging staff augmentation for coding processes. CareCloud offers robust staff augmentation for medical coders that helps practices keep up with medical coding demands without any stress.
