Practice Management Alert

Question: One of our practice’s expert coders is very generous with her knowledge and time, but keeps getting bogged down by answering colleagues’ questions. How do I encourage an environment that bolsters curiosity and expertise, but also allows solid time to focus and be productive? I want my newer coders to learn but also need to make sure my experts have the time and bandwidth to get through some complex cases.

Pennsylvania Subscriber

Answer: There are many ways to assign cases to coders, from encouraging individual coders to specialize in certain areas to working with specific providers to working on claims as they’re ready. No matter how your practice organizes your coding staff, you need to make sure they have the time and space to focus and actually code cases!

Practices that want to foster a collaborative and instructive coding culture may consider designating a certain time of the day or week as office hours, where coders can run questions or ideas by one another. Having a formal designation of time can help staff focus because they can know they’ll have a chance to ask questions or describe tricky scenarios and don’t need to go down rabbit holes of spontaneous interaction. Plus, it’s a lot easier to focus when you’re not interrupted, which can help senior or expert coders — and everyone else — find the space they need to fully concentrate.

You can also take this idea and run with it to designate specific time for internal communications, too, where folks know they can check and respond to emails or messages. With this time management tool, coders have a specific time to prioritize their inbox and, thus, one fewer responsibility to juggle while working on coding.