الثلاثاء، سبتمبر ١٣

Regina G. Weber

New national standard for coding of healthcare information in Saudi Arabia

By: Finn Snyder (adapted)
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health and its medical insurance regulating arm, the Cooperative Healthcare Insurance Council, have officially adopted ICD-10-AM as the national standard for coding healthcare information in the Kingdom.
ICD-10-AM is the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification. It represents a coding platform for diseases, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or diseases, as classified by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Hospitals around the world record the symptoms of patients. Those notes are widely translated into codes the source of which is the ICD system which is in the process of being upgraded to version 11. ICD-10-AM, developed by Australia’s National Centre for Classification in Health (NCCH), counts among adaptations in various countries; it includes codes for treatments.
“Health experts across the globe use these codes to track the spread of diseases and epidemics, to identify common causes of death and illnesses by geographic region, and improve health service planning at the local and national levels. By adopting ICD-10-AM (Australian Modification), the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health, the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance, the Council of Health Services and major healthcare sectors will now be able to improve the quality of healthcare throughout the Kingdom and streamline health insurance communications by utilizing one common set of classification codes,” said Regina G. Weber, MBA, RHIA, Senior Coding Consultant, MedFormatix / Excellence Health Training Institute.
The HIMSS Middle East Conference, which took place 29–31 May 2011 in Riyadh, acknowledged the importance of this official adoption. Over 25 thought leaders from Canada, France, the Middle East, the UK, and the U.S. gathered to share insights and to discuss emerging trends, strategies, and lessons learnt from eHealth initiatives elsewhere around the globe, to help 400 regional and international delegates transform healthcare in their respective countries.
Expert speakers explained the use of coding in improving quality of care, streamlining health insurance communications and containing cost, as well as the key aspects of implementing ICD-10-AM and AR-DRGs. – The Saudi government budget allocation of SR 68.7 bn for healthcare services and social development for the year 2011 are helping to generate partnership deals with vendors, suppliers, and service providers.
As well as discussing coding matters, high-level officials and global experts from leading healthcare organizations spoke at HIMSS Middle East Leadership Summit and Health IT Conference which ran in parallel. It was “one of the most important gatherings of healthcare leaders and Senior Executive Management in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this year” according to the organizers. With the healthcare IT implementations projects growing strongly, the Leadership Summit examined the outlook for the broader Middle East healthcare industry as regional and international leaders addressed current challenges and provided insights into future plans and potential solutions. 

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