Evaluation of Australia and New Zealand Stroke and Heart Disease Coding Education Program

Accurate identification of stroke patients is crucial to understanding the condition and improving quality of care and patient outcomes. Researchers and epidemiologists use the ICD-10-AM codes in combination with other data sources (such as the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry) to learn more about stroke. This includes determining the number and type of strokes that occur and whether this changes over time, the economic burden of stroke, the impact of new clinical guidelines, and even whether a patient continues to take stroke prevention medications after discharge. All of these research activities rely on accurate clinical coding of stroke. • Education Program Development: to develop, implement, and evaluate education programs aimed at improving clinical documentation and ICD-10 coding for stroke. These programs are designed to enhance the skills and knowledge of health information managers, clinical coders and clinicians, to improve clinical documentation and coding accuracy of stroke. • Monitoring Coding Quality: to monitor the coding of stroke admissions by comparing the clinical diagnoses recorded in the AuSCR with diagnostic codes in administrative data. Specific validation studies are conducted to assess the impact of the education program, and to identify areas for further improvement.