How remote clinical coding helps to share the coding burden and reduce costs

A leading teaching hospital in the north of England was facing a significant challenge in maintaining a full workforce of full-time accredited clinical coders.

This meant it was relying on expensive contractors. Capita now provides a remote clinical coding service that helps to share the clinical coding burden and fulfils the trust’s coding needs.

Avoiding reliance on contract coders with secure remote access

The shortfall of clinical coders and consequent reliance on contract coders was pushing the trust significantly over budget. At the end of 2017 the trust began a three- to five-year contract with CHKS, Capita’s healthcare intelligence and improvement experts. The mobilisation from contract award to coding was quick and robust data quality processes were in place from the start.

The team of coders at Capita now works in collaboration with the trust’s in-house coding team to deliver coding services for inpatient episodes of care. Our coders securely access a combination of scanned records and electronic systems and code directly into the trust’s encoder system. The Capita team’s ability to act as part of the trust’s team is key to the success and effectiveness of the partnership.

Delivering greater financial certainty

The service-level agreement contains key performance indicators relating to clinical coding accuracy, including 100 per cent of coding completed within five working days.

The trust and Capita have developed a strong partnership with regular meetings and monthly audits ensuring continual smooth working. This partnership has enabled costs savings and greater financial certainty over the cost of clinical coding, as well as securing income through accurate and timely coding.