Documentation and coding are facts of life for every HM group. Yet almost every group knows that it could be doing better, according to Barb Pierce, CCS-P, ACS-EM, of Barb Pierce Coding and Consulting Inc.

“Despite being a highly structured system, effective coding still depends on the acumen and experience of the people doing the coding,” she says. “No hospitalist will get it perfect every time, but everyone can improve through training. And that training can improve the practice’s bottom line.”

The challenges of coding optimization are getting more and more difficult as changes in government reimbursements impact both documentation and coding requirements. The financial and compliance imperatives to code accurately—even as these requirements shift—are the major driver behind SHM’s new remote learning series, CODE-H.

Short for “Coding Optimally by Documenting Effectively for Hospitalists,” CODE-H can improve the confidence that practice leaders and administrators have in their documentation and coding efforts through a comprehensive, eight-month program that includes webinars and a variety of other support resources. Six expert-led webinars will cover basic and more nuanced issues of documentation, coding, and compliance, including:

• Basics of E&M Coding for Hospitalists, Part 1 and Part 2
• Coding for Hospitalists’ Expanding Scope of Services
• Staying Out of Trouble
• Integrating Physician Billing & Hospital DRG Assurance
• Optimizing Performance and Compliance

Subscribers also receive exclusive access to an online learning community, pre- and post-webinar tests to evaluate learning, a library of additional resources, and CME or CEU credits, pending approval.

The program kicks off Feb. 1 with the first webinar, led by Pierce, the series course director. She is a veteran faculty member for SHM’s one-day coding pre-course. The remote learning series, which runs through Aug. 29, is offered as a site-based subscription for up to 10 individuals from the same HM group for $1,200. Additional participants from the same practice can be registered for a modest additional fee.

“Practice groups continue to lose tens of thousands of dollars through inappropriate documentation and coding,” says Leslie Flores, MHA, a partner in Nelson Flores Hospital Medicine Consultants and SHM’s senior advisor for practice management. “Investing in CODE-H is a way to recoup some of those losses and is a great value. A practice can provide eight months of coding education and support for 10 people for about the same cost as sending a single doctor to SHM’s all-day coding course.”

Visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/codeh to subscribe.