Implementation of a medical coding curriculum for surgery residents

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Healthcare Administration

Background:

• Medical coding knowledge is crucial for healthcare practice.
• General surgery residents commonly exhibit a lack of confidence in medical coding (MC).
• Formal education is needed to address this deficit.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the confidence and knowledge of general surgery residents in medical coding.
• To evaluate the impact of a focused medical coding curriculum on resident confidence and knowledge.
• To determine if targeted didactics can improve resident proficiency in key coding domains.

Main Methods:

• A medical coding curriculum was developed and delivered to general surgery residents.
• The curriculum covered global procedural period (GPP), evaluation and management (E/M) coding, and hospital payment and quality metrics (HPQM).
• Resident comfort and knowledge were assessed using anonymous pre-test and post-test surveys.

Main Results:

• Pre-test results indicated significant discomfort among residents with medical coding.
• Post-test results showed significant increases in resident comfort with MC (p < 0.001) after the curriculum.
• Significant improvements were observed in resident performance on GPP (p = 0.014), E/M (p < 0.001), and HPQM (p = 0.025) domains.

Conclusions:

• Residents express discomfort with medical coding in the absence of formal education.
• A focused medical coding curriculum is effective in enhancing resident confidence and knowledge.
• Implementing such a curriculum is recommended to better prepare residents for practice.