title: The impact of a documentation and coding curriculum in an obstetrics and gynecology continuity clinic.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The goal of this study was to determine how increasing levels of residency training as well as a documentation and coding curriculum affected coding accuracy in the continuity clinic setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  All postgraduate year (PGY) 2 through PGY 4 residents (n=22) participated in a mandatory 3-module curriculum. Residents completed mock charge tickets in the obstetrics and gynecology continuity clinic for every patient encountered 1 month before and 1 month after the curriculum. An audit of 5 random charts per resident (n=110) compared chart documentation with the billing levels noted on the mock charge tickets.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found a significant reduction in the number of undercoded charts for everyone except PGY 4 residents. In addition, all residents correctly coded more charts after the curriculum (from 30 to 46 charts, P=0.03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The first phase of our documentation and coding curriculum study demonstrated that significant improvements in coding accuracy are achieved when implemented among PGY 2 and PGY 3 residents. Refinements in the basic foundation of knowledge may help prevent overcoding errors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ochsner Clinic Foundation, and The University of Queensland School of Medicine, Ochsner Clinical School, New Orleans, LA.
authors.forename: Rajiv B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Gala
authors.forename: Seine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chiang