Health information management and clinical coding workforce issues

Abstract

In early 2008, it became apparent that many Victorian hospitals were having difficulty filling Health Information Manager (HIM) vacancies and that the service area most specifically affected was the clinical coding services. However, at that stage there was only anecdotal evidence to support the suggestion of a workforce shortage. There was no knowledge of the underlying issues and no understanding of the profile of the existing HIM workforce in Victoria. Nothing was known about attrition rates and, importantly, no definitive knowledge of vacancy rates.As this perceived shortage of clinical coders had the potential to adversely impact on the casemix funding model, the Victorian ICD Coding Committee (VICC) decided to undertake a survey and they enlisted the help of the Victorian Department of Health (DH) Workforce unit to do so. Two follow-up studies were subsequently undertaken by a small graduate group2 within the DH. The findings of the initial survey and the two follow-up studies supported the contention that Victoria had a workforce problem.