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Editor's E-Note
Offshore coding, once viewed skeptically among many HIM leaders, has become a more useful tool for coding management. With shortages in the domestic coding workforce, many organizations are moving toward hybrid models that make use of the relative strengths of insourced and outsourced coding. This month’s exclusive provides an in-depth look at hybrid models and how they can best be utilized to keep up with coding demands.
In other news, we have a report on the importance of including children in more research studies to provide a broader range of health data.
In addition to reading our e-newsletter, be sure to visit For The Record’s website at www.fortherecordmag.com. We welcome your feedback at edit@gvpub.com. Follow For The Record on Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, too.
— Dave Yeager, editor |
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Onshore to Offshore: Why Blended Medical Coding Models Have Become the New Standard
By Sabrina Yousfi, MBA, RHIA, CCS, CDIP
Nearly 80% of health system finance leaders state they will use some form of outsourcing within the health care revenue cycle in 2026. Outsourcing is increasingly being used to cope with staff shortages, mitigate rising payer denial rates, and build stability amid uncertain reimbursement forecasts. Revenue cycle outsourcing has also emerged as a strategic lever for operational resilience.
One of the areas within revenue cycle that is ripe for outsourcing is medical coding. Whether outsourced “as needed” or fully contracted out, coding services companies have been serving health care provider organizations for several decades. Outsourced segments account for 64.8% of the US medical coding market revenue, as providers increasingly move away from purely in-house models to reduce administrative overhead and help combat the 12% talent gap in the domestic medical coding workforce. What’s evolved is the location of the outsourced staff.
Once deemed insecure and subquality, the past few years have seen an uptick in the use of offshore coding blended with onshore coding expertise, as well as hybrid models. Onshore and offshore coding resources are brought together on a single outsourcing platform, and using new, emerging technology. Costs are reduced while quality is maintained.
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What’s New in Pediatric Research: Recommendations From the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine
By Jennifer Lutz
In a major shift from previous guidelines, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine are recommending that more children be included in more research, and at an earlier stage.
“We hope that the impact of the report is that children will be included in more trials and that individuals doing that research will be able to get funding,” says Frederick P. Rivara, vice chair for academic affairs and professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle Children’s, and cochair of the committee that wrote the report.
The report, “Strategies to Enhance NIH-Funded Pediatric Research,” was requested by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) after a mandate from Congress under the Biden administration. It was born out of necessity. According to the report, “Children in the United States are experiencing rising rates of chronic diseases and poor mental, emotional, and behavioral health. They are also 80% more likely to die than their peers in European nations.”
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Waystar Accelerates the Autonomous Revenue Cycle
Waystar, a provider of health care payment software, announced an expanded collaboration with Google Cloud to accelerate its agentic AI capabilities and advance the industry toward an autonomous revenue cycle. Waystar learns from downstream payment outcomes to create a self-learning revenue cycle that continuously improves upstream prior authorization, patient coverage identification, and denial prevention, delivering increasingly accurate, outcome-driven automation.
WHOOP Launches EHR Integration and Clinician Video Visits
Wearable fitness company WHOOP announced EHR syncing in partnership with health records platform HealthEx, as well as the addition of on-demand video consultations with licensed medical clinicians for US users. Users can access their clinical history and connect directly with clinicians within the WHOOP app. Clinicians will also have access to the user's biometric data, bloodwork, and medical history. |
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