Tackling coding workforce shortage in Australia

Northern Health is transitioning to AI-assisted coding to replace its legacy system, addressing inefficiencies and proactively tackling the challenges of a decreasing workforce. 

Its Health Information Services has adopted an end-to-end, integrated coding solution provided by Code Focus, which delivers real-time coding feedback and streamlines workflow, compliance, and reporting with AI assistance. 

This implementation, the organisation said, will help ensure accurate reporting of Diagnosis Related Group assignments and National Weighted Activity Units and reduce errors and manual auditing, freeing up time for health information managers. 

THE LARGER CONTEXT

Turning to AI-assisted coding is part of Northern Health’s digital initiatives to address the challenges of rising care demand and a dwindling workforce.

Global health systems will face a shortage of more than 10 million workers, including clinical coders, by the end of the decade, according to the World Health Organization’s projection. 

The issue, which is now causing serious backlogs, delayed payments, and billing errors, is exacerbated by variations in medical coding systems and the rise in annual separations. 

In Australia, for example, separations increased by around 7%, from 11.3 million in 2018 to 12.1 million in 2022, based on data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 

“As annual separations rise, the AI component will reduce the need for scaling up the coding workforce, providing both cost savings and a proactive approach to clinical coding workforce shortages our industry is facing,” said Odette Taylor, director of Northern Health’s Health Information Services.

In its 2022 survey, Code Focus noted how health information managers wanted their organisations to invest more in analytics and auditing software to help them deliver quality coding.