Evaluating Coding Accuracy in General Surgery Residents' Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Procedural Case Logs

Abstract

Introduction: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) case log captures resident operative experience based on Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes and is used to track operative experience during residency. With increasing emphasis on resident operative experiences, coding is more important than ever. It has been shown in other surgical specialties at similar institutions that the residents' ACGME case log may not accurately reflect their operative experience. What barriers may influence this remains unclear. As the only objective measure of resident operative experience, an accurate case log is paramount in representing one's operative experience. This study aims to determine the accuracy of procedural coding by general surgical residents at a single institution.

Methods: Data were collected from 2 consecutive graduating classes of surgical residents' ACGME case logs from 2008 to 2014. A total of 5799 entries from 7 residents were collected. The CPT codes entered by residents were compared to departmental billing records submitted by the attending surgeon for each procedure. Assigned CPT codes by institutional American Academy of Professional Coders certified abstract coders were considered the "gold standard." A total of 4356 (75.12%) of 5799 entries were identified in billing records. Excel 2010 and SAS 9.3 were used for analysis. In the event of multiple codes for the same patient, any match between resident codes and billing record codes was considered a "correct" entry. A 4-question survey was distributed to all current general surgical residents at our institution for feedback on coding habits, limitations to accurate coding, and opinions on ACGME case log representation of their operative experience.

Results: All 7 residents had a low percentage of correctly entered CPT codes. The overall accuracy proportion for all residents was 52.82% (range: 43.32%-60.07%). Only 1 resident showed significant improvement in accuracy during his/her training (p = 0.0043). The survey response rate was 100%. Survey results indicated that inability to find the precise code within the ACGME search interface and unfamiliarity with available CPT codes were by far the most common perceived barriers to accuracy. Survey results also indicated that most residents (74%) believe that they code accurately most of the time and agree that their case log would accurately represent their operative experience (66.6%).

Conclusion: This is the first study to evaluate correctness of residents' ACGME case logs in general surgery. The degree of inaccuracy found here necessitates further investigation into the etiology of these discrepancies. Instruction on coding practices should also benefit the residents after graduation. Optimizing communication among attendings and residents, improving ACGME coding search interface, and implementing consistent coding practices could improve accuracy giving a more realistic view of residents' operative experience.

Keywords: ACGME; ACGME case log; CPT coding; Interpersonal and Communication Skills; Practice-Based Learning and Improvement; Professionalism; Systems-Based Practice; coding; coding accuracy; general surgery residency; graduate medical education; operative experience.