Tips for Meeting Medical Coding Productivity Standards

Medical coding productivity standards require more than speed — they require smart, consistent workflows that protect accuracy while keeping records moving. This blog shares practical strategies for inpatient and outpatient coders to meet productivity expectations, including mindset shifts, efficient record review habits, time blocking, organized resource management, and faster physician query practices. Whether you are coding for a hospital, healthcare system, or remote coding team, these tips can help you improve output, reduce time traps, and maintain compliant coding performance.

Successful medical coding is a delicate balance between accuracy and productivity and due to their importance there are standards for their assessment. Although many coders have personalities that tend to prioritize accuracy and they might not like to hear this, sometimes productivity is more important than accuracy. Effective coders understand that sometimes it’s necessary to loosen the grip on accuracy in order to meet productivity, if accuracy is still meeting standards. However, finding the sweet spot between meeting productivity and maintaining accuracy can be difficult. This Coding Tip offers some philosophies and practical suggestions whose application can improve productivity.

Managing Your Mindset

Meeting productivity standards is often a manifestation of mind over matter. Having the right mindset about productivity is the solid foundation needed for practical applications to build on.

Understand the Expectations

Understanding and working under the following expectations about accuracy can help foster a more realistic perspective of accuracy vs. productivity. Accuracy is only half of the goal. Equal attention should be paid to meeting productivity standards.

Determining when Enough is Enough

You would be surprised how quickly time flies when you are chasing down a rabbit hole that doesn't matter in the end. At some point you have to decide you are done working on a record because further review will not yield any meaningful results. To help you determine when you’ve reached that point keep these thoughts in mind:

Practical Applications

Once you’re thinking strategically about productivity, putting practical suggestions into play will generate measurable changes. How a coder manages their workflow, their review of the record and posing physician queries can all have an impact, negative or positive, on their productivity.

Manage Your Review of the Record

Since the majority of a coder’s day will be spent reviewing records for code assignment, mastering the review process and making it work for you, is critical for productivity as well as accuracy.

Manage Your Workflow

Controlling your time can sometimes feel like trying to hold a tiger by the tail. Implements practices that help you manage your workflow leads to better management of your time overall, which in turn should lead to increased productivity.

Query Efficiently

Posing queries to physicians can be time consuming. Establishing a regular and streamlined process for posing queries will reduce the time needed to get queries in the queue.

Conclusion

Productivity and accuracy are of equal importance; therefore, productivity should not take a back seat to the quest for perfection. Managing the balance between the two is the responsibility of every coding professional. Being organized and efficient with your resources and time helps you control review of the records rather than letting record review control you and your time, In turn, having better control of your time makes it easier to meet productivity standards.

References

• Time Blocking: How to Master Your Schedule & Stay Productive
• https://acdis.org/resources/guidelines-achieving-compliant-query-practice%E2%80%942022-update

FAQ

Since 1992, HIA has been the leading provider of compliance audits, coding support services and clinical documentation audit services for hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, physician groups and other healthcare entities. HIA offers PRN support as well as total outsource support.

The information contained in this coding advice is valid at the time of posting. Viewers are encouraged to research subsequent official guidance in the areas associated with the topic as they can change rapidly.