Computer-assisted coding and documentation: The results

To meet health care reform requirements and shifting reimbursement models, providers must capture and document a complete, accurate patient story. This organization needed to update its technology and processes to stay viable and continue its mission of providing excellent patient care in the face of new regulations and huge volumes of data. On the list of necessary updates: accurate coding automation, improved documentation, quality performance and data management.

This organization selected the 3M™ 360 Encompass™ System to unite its clinical documentation and coding workflows into one comprehensive platform. The first product of its kind in the industry to automate coding and documentation improvement, 3M 360 Encompass is built on 3M logic for grouping and reimbursement that leverages natural language processing (NLP) and 3M rules.

After going live with the 3M 360 Encompass System, the organization reported a 50 percent increase in productivity. The new platform created a high level of accountability throughout the organization and redefined the level of accuracy in the patient story. The organization also measured a “considerable” increase in case mix index. Besides improving productivity and the bottom line, 3M 360 Encompass helped the organization improve collaboration between physicians, coders, quality and CDI teams and eliminate redundant tasks. For example, since the platform automatically tracks queries and responses, physician queries initiated by the CDI team were not repeated by coders.