According to the Texas Medical Association
More coding is used in the health industry. One of the reasons for coding is to make it easier to retrieve stored data. Codes may also be used to administer medications and store patient records. The article goes on to say that the components of doing unnecessary coding in the company "do not partake in dishonest billing or coding," according to the American Academy of Dermatology. It outlines the new obstacles that doctors face in an era of declining payment, intense monitoring and denial of charges by third-party funders, and increasing overheads due to upcoding. Ultimately, the article explains the implications of excessive coding in the health care system.
Auditing systems to determine the extent of misuse
Helps to discover many irregularities undertaken in the sector. According to the article, elements of auditing would reveal fraud and incompetency among the staffs. Some staff members were found to over rely on the system to perform their duties. Furthermore, there were no externally records kept for both financial and medical cases. The audit trail is supposed to capture amendments in the health records; this information equips auditors to start compliance audits. Data integrity is essential as errors in data documentation can affect the clinical decision-making, patient’s safety, privacy, and security. As a result, there could be duplicate testing increased the cost to patients, payers, and service providers. Poor data documentation could also affect the compliance status of a facility. Therefore, there should be a manual record with security features like to supplement and give true values of information.
Reference
Grant-Kels, J., Kim, A., & Graff, J. (2016, December). Billing and up coding: What's a doctor-patient to do? International Journal of Women's Dermatology, 2(4), 149-150. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5419025/