Electronic Health Reporter

The AHIMA Foundation is expanding its registered apprenticeship program to include an inpatient coding auditor role based on recent employer feedback. Registered apprenticeship, a proven strategy, ensures quality workforce readiness training by combining on-the-job learning with hands-on instruction to prepare exceptional workers for American industry.

The process of apprenticeship program registration is designed to ensure that working apprentices, program employers and the public can gain a clear understanding of the training content and that measures that are in place to ensure ongoing quality.

The increase in regulatory audits, downgrading MS-DRGs under ICD-10 and an increase in denials are drivers of impacting the growing need for this role. In-patient coding auditors bring knowledge of code validation and accurate MS-DRG assignment, classification of coding and denial issues and the ability to analyze audit results in order to track and trend overall improvement and resolution. Employers can now choose inpatient coding auditor from the six available roles helping to build a stronger and more experienced health information workforce.

“Our new Inpatient Coding Auditor role will help our apprentice increase the revenue and improved data quality of their employers because nothing will be misplaced or delayed,” said Keith D. Terry, interim executive director of the AHIMA Foundation.

Now is the time for organizations to join the AHIMA Foundation program to expand apprenticeships in healthcare and meet their talent needs and to stay competitive. The registered apprenticeship program can be an effective component of an employer’s staffing strategy and a talent development pathway for workers to gain additional skills and credentials. The AHIMA Foundation offers a free webinar for those wanting to learn more.

The AHIMA Foundation is completing year four of the five-year American Apprenticeship Initiative grant from the US Department of Labor (DOL) to support the expansion of registered apprenticeship programs into career pathways to meet employer needs, particularly into new fields like health information management. The AHIMA Foundation has been working with the DOL Office of Apprenticeship in addition to state apprenticeship agencies to help employers work through the process of creating and sustaining their registered apprenticeship programs.