Competencies and training required by acute care coders in preparation for the conversion to the ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS coding classification systems

This research study discovered the competencies needed by acute care coders, and discovered suitable training and/or educational programs to develop these competencies for the new International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) and International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-PCS) classification systems. The published research of coding education is limited, and little---if any---research has been done on education methods for ICD-10-CM/PCS. This study used the Delphi technique. The study participants consisted of health information management professionals who are coding experts and have knowledge in ICD-10-CM/PCS. Using the Delphi technique, a 3-round study was conducted. The 1st round collected information about needed competencies and training/educational programs. The 2nd round asked participants to rank the competencies and training/educational programs. The 3rd round asked participants to identify the importance of the competencies and appropriateness of the training/education programs. The data was collected using a subscription-based online survey service, and analysis of the data was performed with the assistance of Atlas.ti and SPSS 16. Key competencies and training/educational methodologies were identified by using mean, median, and mode scores along with the standard deviation. The Mann--Whitney rank-sum test and the 1-sample Kolmogorov--Smirnov test were also conducted to show that there was not a significant difference in distribution from normal. This study showed that key competencies needed by acute care coders to use the ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS classification systems were the ability to understand clinical documentation and knowledge of anatomy and physiology, and key training/educational methodologies included hands-on and case studies.