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Overcoming the costs of bad HCC coding education

HCC (Hierarchical condition category) coding is a complex and ever-changing field, and training clinicians in the traditional seminar format can cause significant pain points for healthcare providers and administrators. Here are just a few examples of the pain points that result from HCC coding education seminars:

Inaccurate or incomplete information: Traditional seminars often result in low retention, which leaves you with clinicians who may not provide accurate or complete documentation when coding for HCCs, which can lead to coding errors and non-compliance with CMS.

Difficulty applying the information: The seminars cannot provide hands-on training or clinical vignettes, which makes it difficult for attendees to apply the information they’ve learned in their own practice.

Lack of understanding of the most current guidelines: The seminars may not be up-to-date with the most recent guidelines and definition, which can lead to confusion and non-compliance.

Lack of ongoing education and support: The seminars cannot offer ongoing education or support, which makes it difficult for attendees to stay current with new information or retention.

Time and money wasted: Poor education seminars can be a waste of time and money – both for clinicians who attend them as well as the organizations that sponsor them.

Decrease in Reimbursements: Ineffective HCC coding education often leads to an increase in missed diagnoses and a decrease in revenue.

Audits and penalties: Bad HCC coding education often results in bad HCC coding, which can lead to an increased risk of audits and penalties from CMS.

Decrease in patient care: Bad HCC coding education can lead to an overall decrease in patient care, as providers may not be able to accurately diagnose and treat patients due to coding errors.

It is time for physician groups, hospitals and hospital systems to reevaluate the outdated methods of training clinicians on HCC coding and consider alternative options. While traditional HCC coding education seminars have been the norm for many years, they can be time-consuming, unengaging, and disruptive to the clinician’s daily workflow. Additionally, they simply are not as effective as other methods of training, which can lead to inaccuracies in coding and lost revenue for the practice.

Instead of relying solely on traditional HCC coding education seminars, physician groups should consider implementing a blended learning approach that combines different methods of training such as:

Online training modules: These can be accessed by clinicians at any time and can be tailored to their specific needs and experience level.

Self-paced learning: This allows clinicians to learn at their own pace and on their own schedule, reducing the disruption to their workflow.

One-to-one coaching: This can be done by pairing experienced coders with less experienced clinicians to provide real-world training and hands-on experience.

Using software such as the DoctusTech HCC coding education platform provides active education that helps clinicians engage with coding best practices, tests to run, things to look for, and ways to diagnose for risk in a Value-Based Care arrangement, helping to reduce the risk of audit penalties and fines.

Incorporating a blended learning approach can make training more efficient, effective, and engaging for clinicians, which can ultimately lead to improved coding accuracy, increased revenue for the practice, and reduced clinician burnout.

It’s also important to note that, even with the implementation of a blended learning approach, it’s important to have a mechanism in place to keep the clinicians accountable, so administrators know when and for whom a little extra one-to-one coaching and chart review could be beneficial.

Want to see the DoctusTech app in action? Schedule a demonstration today.

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Here is the cheat sheet you’re looking for: DOWNLOAD *Be sure link opens in a new tab.

ICD-10 codes are hard. Knowing which codes to use for Risk Adjustment in your Value-Based Care is even harder. And even the best available clinician training rarely yields lasting behavior change. Your team needs a resource in your pocket, but a cheat sheet isn’t the best available. 

A cheat sheet for ICD-10 codes can include a list of the codes and their descriptions, as well as common scenarios and the corresponding codes that should be used. 

Having a cheat sheet can also help you quickly look up any unfamiliar codes so that you can make sure you are using the correct ones. Some cheat sheets may even include helpful tips on how to use the codes, which can be very useful for those who are just learning about ICD-10 coding. 

So, if you are dealing with ICD-10 codes, having a cheat sheet can be a great way to stay organized and make sure you are using the correct codes.

Is it a cheat sheet if it helps provide better care to patients?

Absolutely not! First of all, it can help streamline the process of coding diagnoses and treatments. By having an easily accessible reference guide for ICD-10 codes, healthcare providers and coders can quickly look up the correct codes for their documentation. This saves time and can help ensure that all pertinent information is accurately and properly coded.

Secondly, an ICD-10 code cheat sheet can help to improve accuracy in medical coding. Medical coding is a complex process, and mistakes can be costly. An ICD-10 code cheat sheet can provide coders with a quick reference to ensure that they are using the correct codes for diagnoses and treatments. This can help reduce errors and improve patient care by ensuring that all relevant information is accurately and properly coded.

Finally, an ICD-10 code cheat sheet can help ensure that all necessary information is documented in a timely manner. By having a handy reference guide for ICD-10 codes, healthcare providers and coders can ensure that all necessary information is recorded quickly and accurately. This can help speed up the process of providing care to patients and ensure that their records are up to date.

In summary, an ICD-10 code cheat sheet can be a valuable tool for providing better care to patients. It can help streamline the process of coding diagnoses and treatments, improve accuracy in medical coding, and ensure that all necessary information is documented in a timely manner.

Why are so many clinicians searching for a cheat sheet?

ICD-10 codes are extremely complex and can be difficult to keep track of, and everyone wants to make their jobs easier and accurate. Clinicians too are often looking for quick and easy ways to access the codes they need quickly and easily. A ICD-10 code cheat sheet is a great way to do this. 

For example, there may be codes related to infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, etc. This cheat sheet allows clinicians to quickly find the code they need without having to search through a long list of codes. 

The other advantage of a ICD-10 code cheat sheet is that it can be used to check for accuracy. If a clinician suspects that a code might not be correct, they can quickly refer to the cheat sheet to double-check the code before submitting it for billing purposes. This helps ensure that the code is accurate and helps avoid any issues with billing.

Get your ICD-10 code cheat sheet now!

Here are two simple resources that you can use to quickly and efficiently locate and select the most appropriate ICD-10 code when diagnosing chronic conditions for patients in a risk arrangement.

The DoctusTech HCC Quick Guide: A simple PDF with the HCC codes for the most frequently diagnosed conditions. 

The DoctusTech App – the best code finding lookup tool for VBC, complete with insights on connected conditions and proper documentation requirements.

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DoctusTech Helps: Deploy HCC coding education across your organization

HCC coding improves the quality of patient care and reduces the cost of healthcare. But, like any tool, it’s only effective if the people who use it have it mastered. That’s why it’s so important to provide HCC coding education across your organization. In this article, we will share how DoctusTech helps deploy HCC coding education across your organization.

At DoctusTech, we are always eager to assist healthcare organizations boost HCC training programs. We believe that solving the three shortcomings of risk adjustment—the data gap, the workflow gap, and the knowledge gap—is critical. Most available solutions address only the data or workflow gaps. However, if your clinicians don’t have the right knowledge, you won’t obtain the outcomes you desire no matter what you do to resolve the data and workflow issues. We strongly believe that if you resolve HCC coding knowledge challenges, your data and workflow issues will be resolved along the way.

The DoctusTech Mobile App is designed on our successful HCC education and retention strategy that relies on clinical vignettes customized to the clinicians’ strengths and weaknesses, which are sent to their mobile phones every week. With a 90% engagement rate, DoctusTech App results far surpass any other learning tool, technology or strategy.

According to the learning data, we consistently achieve a significant increase in clinician RAF accuracy after they start using the app for HCC coding education. 

How does the app achieve this?

Clinicians can use our app to gamify their learning experience, engage with their peers, compete for real prizes, and receive administrative support. Our app also comes with the most sophisticated HCC code search tool available on the planet. In addition, clinicians earn 25 CME hours every year as they learn HCC coding in a non-boring app!

Clinical Vignettes – The secret sauce!

Most doctors who have just graduated from medical school or residency programs know little to nothing about coding for risk adjustment and value-based care. In the past, these clinicians were forced to sit in seminars and learn the correct codes so they could diagnose and document them properly. Every other important medical fact is learned in clinical vignettes, so clinicians have difficulty retaining and applying information learned in boring seminars or email blasts. Simply put, incorporating new HCC codes into daily practice is hard – which is why the DoctusTech HCC coding education app is so vital. 

Doctors prefer to learn using the Socratic method, clinical vignettes, and question and answer sessions, because it is the most effective way to capture long-term knowledge gain. This is how they were educated, and this is the best way. DoctusTech enables them to learn HCC coding in the same manner—from other doctors, using clinical vignettes, on their own time, requiring only an average of five minutes per week.

Get in touch to learn more about how DoctusTech helps!