Current coding competency compared to projected competency

Coding competency is extremely important to the health information management (HIM) profession and healthcare in general. The research presented in this article evaluates coding skill and competency using practice-based research. The projected skill set for the clinical data specialist, the future coding role set forth in the publication Evolving HIM Careers, was used to determine how prepared current coders are in terms of projected competencies. To conduct this investigation, a random sample of coders and non-coders were surveyed to determine how well the current level of skills relate to the skills described for the clinical data specialist. In addition to evaluating the skills of current coders, non-coders were used to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference between coders and non-coders' skills relative to the future competencies. If the coders and non-coders had similar self-assessed skills, the validity of the skill set would be questionable. If however, the self-assessed skill was significantly different, the assertion that the skill set is specific to coders would be more credible. The findings from the research suggest that there are many skills projected for the clinical data specialist that are shared by both coders and non-coders. Also, neither coders nor non-coders reflected the level of competence in their self-assessed skills in many areas, such as understanding coding and classification systems other than ICD-9 and CPT, designing audit tools, performing quality audits, and selecting statistical software applications appropriate to the data to be captured. The research also suggests that coding professionals who wish to prepare for the future should acquire more communication, research, and management skills. Further, because there are only a few skills that were found to be significantly different between the two groups, the non-coding health information professionals can prepare to become coding professionals by gaining skills in coding systems and reimbursement software. Moreover, the implication is that the skill set projected for coders applies to all HIM professionals as well.