Health Information Services
Health Information Management Week 2022
Health Information Management Week is being celebrated this week from 22 – 26 August 2022. The week is all about showcasing and celebrating the work of Health Information Managers, and related roles in Health Information Services.
What is Health Information Services?
Jessie McPherson’s Health Information Services Manager Kelly Wathen took some time to explain the role of the team.
The Health Information Services (HIS) team is a small, but important cog in the Jessie McPherson Private Hospital wheel.
The Jessie HIS Team is responsible for a number of critical business processes, including:
- Clinical coding of all patient episodes
- State and Commonwealth statutory data reporting
- Health fund reporting
- Responding to health fund audits
The team consists of four team members, this includes qualified health information managers, clinical coders, and a registered nurse.
- Kelly Wathen, Health Information Services & Fund Contracts Manager
- Alicia Michael, Health Information Manager
- Nicole Gerrand, Clinical Coder
- Anna Garcia, Registered Nurse
What is Clinical Coding?
Clinical coding is the most critical task that the team performs. Clinical coding is a specialised skill that requires knowledge in medical terminology, anatomy, physiology, disease processes and pharmacology.
Clinical Coders read a patient’s episode of care in its entirety (from Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and other systems) and turn clinical statements into alphanumerical code. Using the health information the coders decide which diagnoses and procedures found in the record meet the criteria for coding according to the Australian Coding Standards. Codes are then assigned for these diagnoses and procedures from the ICD-10-AM and ACHI classification systems.
Piecing together the patient’s journey, and getting the best possible outcome from the coding, whilst navigating IT systems such as EMR can be somewhat complex.
This is where Anna Garcia’s role, as our Clinical Document Integrity expert, comes in to focus. Anna is helping to bridge the gap between what, where and how things are (or are not) documented in a patients record and how it is coded. Anna is looking forward to conducting ward visits and partnering with clinical staff more in the next 6-12 months.
What’s with all the Acronyms?
ICD-10-AM
ICD stands for International Classification of Diseases.
It is a globally used diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes. The ICD is maintained by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations System.
ICD-10-AM stands for The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification.
ICD-10-AM codes use the clinical concepts of diseases, symptoms (that represent important problems in medical care in their own right), injuries, poisonings, and/or adverse effects and procedural complications. The data produced is used for a variety of reasons, including; funding, clinical benchmarking, statistics, research and epidemiological studies and education.
Currently Australia is utilising ICD-10-AM Eleventh Edition for admitted episodes of care.
ACHI Code
ACHI stands for the Australian Classification of Health Interventions, these codes are a classification of interventions based on the Commonwealth Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS).
ACHI is the Australian national standard for intervention coding in Australian hospitals.
Learn more about clinical coding classifications on the IHACPA website
Support in all the right places
Coding correctly is critically important for Jessie McPherson, as is the integrity of our patient data, which the team also play a role in managing. Our funding depends on coding, as does our ability to future plan and understand the areas we are growing and changing as a hospital.
The Health Information Services Team may be a quiet team, tucked away behind the scenes, but they contribute consistently and professionally for the benefit of Jessie McPherson and the patients that it cares for.
Wishing our Health Information Services Team a Happy HIM Week!
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about the HIS Team please email jmphhis@monashhealth.org
Learn more about Health Information Week and this year’s campaign “Behind every health statistic is a person”
