An Interactive Multimodality Curriculum Teaching Medicine Residents About Oncologic Documentation and Billing

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Oncology
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Clinical documentation is crucial for accurate medical coding and billing.
• Residency curricula often lack sufficient emphasis on clinical documentation, especially in oncology.
• There is a need for targeted education to improve documentation practices for cancer patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate an educational curriculum for oncology residents focused on clinical documentation.
• To assess the impact of the curriculum on residents' knowledge, documentation skills, and confidence.

Main Methods:

• A pre- and post-intervention survey design was employed.
• A simulated history and physical (H&P) documentation exercise was used.
• A 25-minute lecture on billing, coding, and oncology-specific documentation was delivered.
• Personalized feedback was provided to residents based on H&P grading.

Main Results:

• 100% of residents found the activity helpful.
• 83% reported increased knowledge of diagnosis codes.
• 100% improved their documentation skills.
• 91% were more likely to use cancer-specific diagnoses.
• 91% benefited from direct feedback-based education.

Conclusions:

• A combined approach of didactics, hands-on practice, and personalized feedback is effective for improving clinical documentation in oncology.
• Targeted educational interventions can enhance residents' documentation accuracy and use of specific diagnostic codes.