A Decision Support Tool for Using an ICD-10 Anatomographer to Address Admission Coding Inaccuracies: A Commentary

Authors

  • Christopher M Bell University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Arash Jalali University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Edward Mensah University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v5i2.4813

Abstract

Abstract

In the chaotic environment of an emergency department trauma unit, accuracy and timeliness in decision making are required to save a patient’s life. In a large urban city, where gun violence is high, emergency department physicians must have a wide array of tools in order to effectively and efficiently treat victims of gun violence and ensure that their diagnoses are properly coded. A disparity currently exists between the accuracy of ICD-9 admission coding and discharge coding with some error rates as much as seventy percent. [1,2,3,4] The elevated error rate is poised to increase even more, as the US transitions from ICD-9 to ICD-10 coding standard. The proposed decision support tool, the ICD-10 anatomographer, will have many advantages to medical professionals working in high-intensity settings. Emergency department physicians in busy trauma care units in large urban hospitals will be able to utilize this technology to find the accurate ICD-10 code in an efficient manner, thereby improving quality of care and saving lives.

Keywords: decision support, ICD-9 to ICD-10 transition, anatomography

Author Biographies

Christopher M Bell, University of Illinois at Chicago

Christopher M. Bell, CAPM is a project coordinator for the department of University Health Services at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System. He received his baccalaureate degree in communications at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. He is currently enrolled in the master of science in health informatics research track at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Mr. Bell’s research interests in Health IT include the use of electronic communication tools in the field of project management in healthcare, the applications of conversational informatics to analyze and improve project communications management in healthcare, the application of Q methodology in project communications management in healthcare, the applications of geographical information systems (GIS) to track work-related injuries, and how to leverage big data in healthcare to improve patient outcomes and improve public health.

Edward Mensah, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health

PhD, Asso. Professor, Health Policy Administration

Director, Online Public Health Informatics Program

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Published

2013-08-02

How to Cite

Bell, C. M., Jalali, A., & Mensah, E. (2013). A Decision Support Tool for Using an ICD-10 Anatomographer to Address Admission Coding Inaccuracies: A Commentary. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v5i2.4813

Issue

Section

Interviews and Commentaries