Role and Purpose The Queensland Coding Committee (QCC) will:
Consider and resolve ICD-10-AM and AR-DRG queries as submitted by Queensland Clinical Coders;
Promote and provide clarification of coding ethics and practice standards;
Provide information to Clinical Coders on quality initiatives in regards to the collection of coded hospital morbidity data;
Provide advice on the interpretation of Australian Coding Standards (ACS), ICD-10-AM and Australian Classification of Health Interventions (ACHI);
Act as the point of review for disputed coding in Queensland Health’s (QH) clinical coding audit process;
Advise QH on Clinical Coder workforce and education issues;
Provide advice on national and state edits (including age, sex and rare edits as well as edits inline with edition changes and updates to ICD-10-AM) where they relate to clinical coding;
Provide an internet and intranet website where Clinical Coders in Queensland from public or private facilities can access state coding resources;
Provide recommendations for updates, articles and resources for inclusion on the Coders InSite intranet webpage and QCC website;
Provide suggestions and assist in preparing articles for the quarterly QCC newsletter “Codefile”;
Provide advice and consultation where appropriate, to the following organisations and committees/forums in relation to ICD-10-AM, ACHI and ACS, clinical coding practices and conventions:
National Casemix and Classification Centre (NCCC);
Other QH units and divisions;
ICD Technical Group (ITG);
Health Information Management Association of Australia (HIMAA);
Queensland University of Technology (QUT);
Health Information Management Reference Group (HIMRG);
Clinical Classification Auditor Educator’s Forum (CCAEF);
Clinical Coders’ Society of Australia (CCSA).
Consult fellow Clinical Coders on matters relating to ITG and QCC;
Recommend coding assignment and coding quality tools.
Meeting Arrangements
The QCC will meet once a month except for January;
QCC meetings consist of two parts. The business process part and the query part. The business process part of the meeting consists of business items relating to coding, the collection and use of coded data. QCC queries and responses are discussed in the query part of the meeting. Members can nominate to attend the business process part of the meeting and/or the query part of the meeting;
The agenda and monthly coding queries will be forwarded to members for review at least five working days prior to the scheduled meeting;
Minutes will be taken by the QCC Secretariat at each meeting;
Query responses will be recorded at each meeting;
Minutes and queries with QCC response from previous meetings will be forwarded to members for review and comment five working days after the meeting;
Minutes and queries will be forwarded to the QCC distribution email group once ratified by the QCC;
Minutes and queries will be approved for internet publishing and published on the QCC website within a month of being ratified by the QCC.
Membership
The convenor position will be held by a member of the Statistical
Standards Unit (SSU), HSC. The secretariat position will be held by a member of the HSC;
Membership on the QCC is by application only to an Expression of Interest (EoI);
An EoI will be released by the convenor when positions become vacant and it is appropriate;
To ensure that membership numbers remain manageable the total membership of the committee should not exceed twenty one;
It is expected that members will attend at least seven meetings per year barring extraordinary circumstances;
Membership is granted to individuals. A position on the QCC cannot be held by a hospital or district;
Members from within QH require District Manager (DM) approval to attend and accept membership on the QCC;
It is expected that members will add value by contributing to the committee with their knowledge of clinical coding;
Committee members may include individuals with experience such as:
Clinical Coders;
Health Information Managers;
Members of the Clinical Coders’ Society of Australia;
Clinicians;
Coding or Health Information Management Educators and/or Auditors;
Application specialists who work with applications related to the capture of clinical coding information. However, this does not include companies where the product has been purchased under licence;
Clinical Information Managers, or roles in clinical practice improvement.
Individuals solely from a clinical coding background, must be currently employed as a Clinical Coder, Health Information Manager or in a similar role and also have at least two years work experience in a position(s) where coding comprises a significant part of work duties;
Membership is open to both public and private hospitals and Health Service Districts and Corporate Office.
Quorum and Decision Making
The meeting should proceed only if a quorum of half the membership plus one is present. This applies to both sections of the meeting, as noted in point 2 of section 3, Meeting Arrangements;
A quorum of half, plus one, shall be sufficient to agree to a decision;
If a member is unable to attend, they may be represented by a suitably qualified proxy;
Actionable and accountable decisions shall be made after the members have considered and discussed the issue to their satisfaction. Some decisions including ratification of query responses and minutes may be made out-of-session;
Minutes must be ratified by at least two QCC members;
Queries must be ratified by at least two QCC members.
Evaluation
The QCC will undertake a biennial self-assessment of its performance against the approved terms of reference and member’s attendance record.
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