Clinical coding and the quality and integrity of health data
Abstract
It is a pleasure to provide the guest editorial for this Special Issue of the Health Information Management Journal (HIMJ). The Journal has had a long and interesting history that can be traced back to the 1970s with humble beginnings, being manually produced with a stencil and duplicating machine by volunteers (Watson, 2019). The fact that we are now publishing a special issue through SAGE Publishing speaks volumes about how far the Journal has come and the title of this Special Issue, Clinical Coding and the Quality and Integrity of Health Data, speaks volumes about how important clinical coding has become to the management of health information in Australia and around the world. In Australia, as the Health Information Management Association of Australia celebrates its 70th anniversary, clinical coders are facing challenges on many fronts. Clinical coded data influences diverse aspects of our health systems, from quality and safety monitoring and funding models to health service planning and infrastructure development. In addition, we have technological developments that will change the clinical coders’ roles substantially over the next 5–10 years. The articles published in this Special Issue reflect these challenges and illustrate the far-reaching consequences of data that lack integrity and are of poor quality. Campbell and Giadresco (2020), through a literature review, investigated the effect of computer assisted coding on the accuracy and quality of clinical coding and…
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