Shortage of Medical Coders
Medical coding is essential in healthcare’s administrative and operational domains, but doctors and nurses are still experiencing a shortage of these key personnel. Coders play a crucial role in community health and research activities, correct reimbursement, and maintaining records. Although this is an extremely common field, as noted before, clinicians are noticing a large shortage of these personnel within healthcare. MedCore can help solve this problem.
According to a survey, 73% of medical practices identify staffing as their greatest problem as a result of the pandemic. CEOs of healthcare providers are the most concerned about this issue. However, it’s anticipated in the next ten years that there will be more than 27,000 open positions annually, which includes both new positions and those left open by employees who move into new roles or retire. It is also important to highlight that, with high turnover rates, clinical FTEs per provider have significantly decreased from levels prior to the pandemic. Medical coders are included in this.
Effects of Pandemic Burnout
The COVID-19 pandemic had a large effect on employers across all industries. However, medical coders suffered especially as a result of the health crisis facing the nation over the last few years. Burnout plays a large role in the turnover of employees, whether they’re aging out of their positions or simply leaving.
Reimbursement denials are a major contributor to coder burnout. In addition to being highly stressful, they complicate the revenue cycle, delay payments to hospitals and doctors, and raise overall revenue cycle costs. Because of this, medical coders are under a lot of pressure to figure out any problems related to coding. Furthermore, medical coding is a rapidly evolving field, making it difficult to retain staff and address a widespread staffing shortage. MedCore Solutions offers flexible, cost-effective, high-quality staffing solutions for the healthcare administration sector and can help with the retention and hiring of new coders.
Looking to Tackle Staffing Shortages in your Healthcare Practice?
MedCore Solutions can help your practice tackle staffing shortages and challenges with medical billing. They are an industry leader in streamlined medical billing and administrative services. MedCore’s specialists offer a solution to industry-wide staffing shortages, all while helping your practice run smoothly. MedCore tailors solutions to the needs of each medical practice so providers can focus on what matters most: taking care of their patients. Learn more at https://medcoresolutions.com/.
Reference
CodaMetrix. (2023, January 30). “The great clinician shortage” does not exclude medical coders. Retrieved from: https://www.codametrix.com/blog-the-great-clinician-shortage/.