MedPartners Solutions Develops New ICD-10 Coders for Healthcare Industry
TAMPA, Fla., April 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MedPartners, a full-service strategic healthcare staffing organization, developed a program that is changing the way employers hire medical coders as well as how Health Information Management (HIM) graduates find gainful employment.
MedPartners Solutions (MPS) was designed with the support of the AHIMA Foundation and the U.S. Department of Labor to provide recent graduates of CAHIIM programs (RHIA, RHIT, and Coding Certificate) hands-on ICD-10 training and an opportunity to advance into an apprentice program that could lead to employment.
As leaders in HIM recruitment, MedPartners estimates 80% of coding departments are currently understaffed. Furthermore, the October 1, 2015 rollout of ICD-10 decreased productivity by approximately 50% due to the increased level of specificity.
Although many healthcare facilities are short-staffed, HIM graduates are still finding it difficult to secure employment because they lack experience with ICD-10.
According to Dr. William Rudman, Executive Director AHIMA Foundation,many employers seek talented candidates with at least 2 years of coding experience, making it difficult for recent graduates to stay competitive in their field. "Apprenticeships help close the skills gap with training and on the job mentoring, offering a career on-ramp for students."
MedPartners believes ICD-10 leveled the playing field, and new graduates with extra training could be a great alternative to offshoring.
"MedPartners saw this as a win-win for everyone," said Marci Wilhelm, Co-CEO & Chief Compliance Officer. "We developed an innovating solution to meet our client's need to fill vacant HIM positions by developing a program that would produce talented new coders."
Class is in Session:
MPS is a free 13-week training program, designed to expand beyond the CAHIIM program curriculum on ICD-10 coding. It focuses on inpatient and outpatient coding conducted in two phases.
Phase I of the program is divided into inpatient and outpatient coding over 13 weeks. It incorporates medical terminology, anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, and redacted medical records.
Phase II is immersion training where the top 10% of each graduating class will have the opportunity to move onto our extensive Inpatient & Outpatient Coding Apprenticeship Program at a Level I Trauma Facility, which could ultimately lead to employment.
Since the start of MPS in June of 2015, it continues to be a proven success:
- To date, MedPartners has graduated 300 students from the classroom curriculum, and 75 continued on to complete immersion training.
- From the two classes that have completed the program, MedPartners is attributed to placing 40 graduates with permanent employment.
- Currently, MPS has 35 students in the apprenticeship program for its third class, and 115 students are in Phase I of the fourth class.
- The overall class productivity over the last three months combined is 1.6% (charts per hour), and DRG accuracy has consistently grown; rising from 97.4% to 98.0%.
- In addition, the overall coding average has consistently shown growth over the last three months going from 92.4% to 97.68% for students enrolled with MPS.
MedPartners Solutions is Your ICD-10 Solution
According to the Department of Labor, "employment of health information technicians is projected to grow 15% from 2014 to 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations."
MedPartners anticipates a rapid increase of coding services over the next few years. For students currently enrolled in a CAHIIM program, this means they need to stay up-to-date with their coding in order to keep a competitive advantage when seeking employment opportunities.
"The experience gained during MPS is invaluable," said Marci Wilhelm, Co-CEO & Chief Compliance Officer. "We are not only providing a service to our clients, but also paving the way to an aspiring career path for the future of Health Information Management."
MedPartners is now accepting applications for the next MPS class starting on June 13, 2016.
For more information, visit www.medpartners.com/medpartners-solutions or email [email protected].
About MedPartners: MedPartners is a full-service strategic staffing organization providing healthcare and medical staffing solutions to our clients by providing the most qualified talent available within today's marketplace. Our specialty areas include Health Information Management Coding Services, Oncology Data Management, Trauma Registry, Clinical Documentation Improvement, Case Management, and Educational Services. With over 60 years of experience, we provide contract, direct hire, and contract-to-hire service offerings.
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SOURCE MedPartners
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