HIM department at Community Hospital will experience a 15 percent increase in the number of discharges coded per day as the result of opening a cardiac clinic in the facility. The 15 percent incrase is projected to be 100 additional records per day. The standard time to code this type of record is 10 minutes. Compute the number of FETs required to handle this increased volume in coding based on a seven-hour productive day.
To compute the number of Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) required to handle the increased volume in coding, we need to follow these steps:
Step 1: Determine the total number of additional records per day.
In this case, the projected increase is 100 additional records per day.
Step 2: Calculate the total additional coding time per day.
To find the additional coding time per day, we multiply the number of additional records (100) by the time it takes to code each record (10 minutes).
Additional coding time per day = 100 records * 10 minutes/record = 1000 minutes
Step 3: Convert the additional coding time to hours.
Since we want to calculate the FTEs required based on a seven-hour productive day, we need to convert the additional coding time from minutes to hours.
Additional coding time per day = 1000 minutes / 60 minutes/hour = 16.67 hours (approx.)
Step 4: Calculate the number of FTEs required.
To find the number of FTEs required, we divide the additional coding time per day (in hours) by the productive hours per day. In this case, the productive hours per day are 7.
Number of FTEs required = Additional coding time per day (in hours) / Productive hours per day
Number of FTEs required = 16.67 hours / 7 hours = 2.38 FTEs (approx.)
Therefore, based on a seven-hour productive day, the HIM department at Community Hospital would require approximately 2.38 Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) to handle the increased volume in coding. Since we cannot have a fraction of an FTE, we might need to consider hiring an additional part-time coder or adjusting the workload distribution among existing staff members.