The HIM department for your healthcare organization has experienced a chronic shortage of qualified coders. To alleviate this problem, the department is proposing the implementation of a home-based coding system.

Mercy Health System, like many healthcare organizations, is experiencing a shortage of qualified coders. Over the past three years, the vacancy rate for coders has been 20 percent to 25percent. With more than $2.7 million billed on a daily basis, this vacancy level has the potential to result in an increase in accounts receivables. Several past initiatives have attempted to resolve this issue without any success. These include outsourcing backlogged work, and paying out $50,000 in retention bonuses and more than $6,000 in recruitment bonuses. Based on published best practices in the HIM field, we believe that the establishment of a home-based coding system will solve our coder vacancy problem.

Discussion Questions:

a. Prepare a project charter document that includes the project objectives, deliverables, high-level project activities, assumptions and constraints, an estimated project schedule, and estimated project costs. 100 points

Objectives

Develop Metrics Plan

Evaluate Hardware and Software

Develop Policies and Procedures

Set-up and Training

The hardware and software will be installed and the employees will be trained on the systems. The training will include topics for receiving support for technical issues and department procedure issues.

Implement Program

Deliverables

• Telecommuting policies and procedures
• Confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement
• Telecommuting agreement
• Workstation hardware and software requirements
• Safety checklist
• Training plan and training materials
• Pre- and post-implementation metrics

Estimated Project Schedule and Costs

b. Prepare a roles and responsibilities document that includes the project organizational structure. 40 points

c. Prepare a project task list. For each task, indicate the task predecessor(s), the resources assigned to work on the task, and the estimated work effort for each resource. 40 points

d. Document the project risks. For each risk, indicate the probability factor, the impact factor, and the contingency plan.