SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Billing and Coding 101: A Curriculum for Hospitalists to Optimize Reimbursement

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A targeted billing and coding curriculum for hospitalists at Oregon Health & Science University improved documentation quality, clinician confidence, and revenue capture. Because hospitalists spend a large portion of the day documenting and coding errors can lead to substantial lost reimbursement, the team created a brief educational intervention for all 48 hospitalists in the division.<br /><br />The curriculum consisted of six 15-minute sessions covering inpatient billing topics such as admission and progress note coding, critical care, prolonged services, discharge requirements, and differences between professional and hospital-based billing. It also included an Epic documentation tool with structured prompts, prewritten critical care and prolonged-service language, a printed high-yield handout, and individualized feedback for clinicians with the lowest performance metrics. Billing performance was compared for the three months before and after the intervention.<br /><br />After education, clinicians reported greater confidence in billing. Coding patterns shifted toward higher-acuity billing: level 1 codes decreased by 5%, while level 3 codes increased by 27%. Use of the 30-minute discharge code (99239) rose from 60% to 83% when time statements were included. Financially, these changes were associated with an estimated $137,000 increase in revenue over three months, including gains from higher-level visits, discharge coding, and critical care billing. Total hospitalist work RVUs also increased by 77%.<br /><br />Overall, the project showed that targeted, practical billing education can improve documentation accuracy and significantly increase revenue capture. The authors conclude that teaching core billing principles is a scalable, high-value strategy that could benefit inpatient departments broadly.

Asset Subtitle

Carrie A. Sailer

Meta Tag

Author List Carrie A. Sailer, Kellie Littlefield, Michael J. Hendricks

Category Innovations

Concept Inpatient Billing

Concept Medical Coding

Concept Documentation

Concept Evaluation and Management Service

Concept CMS reporting requirements

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Oregon Health & Science University

Presenting Author Carrie A. Sailer

Track Value in Hospital Medicine

Keywords

hospitalist billing

coding curriculum

documentation quality

revenue capture

inpatient billing

critical care coding

discharge coding

Epic documentation tool

work RVUs

billing education

Inpatient Billing

Medical Coding

Documentation

Evaluation and Management Service

CMS reporting requirements