Delphi method for medical coding

Abstract

Systems and methods provide confirmation of accuracy of determining medical codes for medical records. The technology may include processor control instructions or steps for establishing a collection of medical documents as a test sample and for determining a convergence of assigned medical codes for the sample that have been assigned by a plurality of coders to establish a standard of one or more accepted medical codes for the sample. The technology may include instructions for applying the sample to a coding system to obtain a determined medical code for the sample; and for comparing the determined code to the accepted medical codes to rate the coding system's accuracy. In some embodiments, the determined medical codes may be obtained by a software coding algorithm that automatically assigns medical codes to medical records. Moreover, the comparing step may be performed by an algorithm that automatically calculates a rate of the coding system.

1 . A method for coding medical documents comprising:
 presenting a set of documents to each of a plurality of game contestants in a user interface;   receiving input from at least one of the user interfaces concerning a potential classification code for the set of documents; and   determining a score for at least one of the plurality of game contestants based on the received input from the user interface.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining an accepted classification code for the set of documents from input of the user interfaces of the plurality of game contestants. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising determining the score based on the determination of the accepted classification code. 
     
     
         4 . An automated system for coding medical documents comprising:
 user interfaces to present a set of electronic medical documents to each of a plurality of game contestants; and   processor control instructions programmed to receive input from at least one of the user interfaces concerning a potential classification code for the set of electronic medical documents; and   processor control instructions to determine a score for at least one of the plurality of game contestants based on the received input from the user interface.   
     
     
         5 . The automated system of  claim 4 , further comprising processor control instructions to determine an accepted classification code for the set of electronic medical documents from input of the user interfaces of the plurality of game contestants. 
     
     
         6 . The automated system of  claim 5 , further comprising processor control instructions to determine the score based on the determination of the accepted classification code.