183: Determining Costs of Information Requests
Determine the cost of processing requests for information by using the following data.
Types of RequestsAverage Time to Respond to Request
In-person requests: Someone appears in the Patient Data Services/HIM Department and requests to review or receive copies of the record.15 minutes
Requests received by mail or by fax8 minutes
Requests received by telephone5 minutes
One full-time equivalent (FTE) (2080 hours) is assigned to this function. The salary for this position is $29,000 a year.
1.What is the unit cost of the time to respond to requests for information?
2.What other data should be factored into this cost to obtain a unit cost for this function?
3.Given the following mix of types of requests, approximately how many requests could be answered per year (e.g., 50% mail/fax, 25% telephone, and 25% in person)?
Critical Thinking
Remember that there are considerations that the health information management (HIM) director should take into account when measuring coder productivity:
Do coders perform other tasks such as charge capture, data abstracting, documentation review, and so on?
Do coders find missing records?
Do coders answer the phone?
Are records sent to coders in the correct order?
Is severity of illness taken into account when determining productivity?
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