Question: 6.6 Ethical decision-making Competency VI.7 An inpatient coder has come to you, the director of HIM, with concerns that she has been instructed by the
6.6 Ethical decision-making
Competency VI.7
An inpatient coder has come to you, the director of HIM, with concerns that she has been instructed by the coding supervisor to code all bedside debridements as excisional. When you discuss this with the coding supervisor, she explains that surgical trays are ordered for the bedside and that physicians have been ignoring the queries requesting clarification. Instead, they orally state that the debridements are always excisional. Therefore, she issued the directive to the staff.
- Use the ethical decision-making process to determine if this is an unethical situation and, if so, what principle of the AHIMA Code of Ethics or AHIMA's Standards of Ethical Coding it violates.
- If it is a violation, give your opinion of what the implications might be to the coder, coding supervisor, yourself, and the organization.
Resources
AHIMA. 2019. AHIMA Code of Ethics. http://bok.ahima.org/doc?oid=105098#.XR-TMOtKi71.
AHIMA. 2016. AHIMA Standards of Ethical Coding. http://bok.ahima.org/CodingStandards#.XFn1 KFVKi70.
Hamilton, M. 2020. Ethical Issues in Health Information Management. Chapter 21 in Health Information Management Technology: An Applied Approach, 6th ed. N. B. Sayles and L. Gordon, eds. Chicago: AHIMA.
Swirsky, E. 2020. Ethical Issues in Health Information Management. Chapter X in Health Information
Management: Concepts, Principles, and Practice, 6th ed. P. Oachs and A. Watters, eds. Chicago: AHIMA.
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