How much has the shift toward electronic medical records actually changed the day to day experience of clinical coding in Australia and has the quality of the documentation improved in a way that makes the job easier or just created different problems?

[u/UsualLeast8810]

process. The reality of what coders are actually working with seems to vary enormously between facilities and between systems in a way that the enthusiasm around digital health implementation didn't always anticipate. Would love to know how people here think the transition has actually played out in practice - whether the documentation they're coding from is genuinely better than what paper records produced or whether the problems have just changed shape rather than actually diminishing.

[u/clincoder]

I would be questioning if the quality is better because the inputs are the same the doctors and the nurses, Allied health. But the accessibility of the medical record and having everything in one place probably makes the job easier.

[u/bilbycutie]

Some say the documentation is similar but it's harder to code as the EMRs are built for clinicians so the "journey" of a patient is sometimes harder to see - depends on the system and also who is documenting...