The Australia and New Zealand Stroke Coding Working Group was established in August 2020 as part of an initiative to improve clinical documentation and coding for stroke in these countries. Previous research has identified discordance between clinical coding and stroke diagnoses in the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry. Accurate clinical coding is essential for health services planning, activity based funding and epidemiological research. 

The group comprises health information managers working in hospitals, government institutions and academia, as well as data-linkage experts, database managers, epidemiologists, neurologists, statisticians, and representatives from the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

• Establish a thorough understanding on the current standards and practices at hospitals for the coding of stroke and how clinical documentation is used in the process, including international Classification of Diseases, tenth edition (ICD-10), future planning for ICD-11, Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) and other relevant disease classifications.

• Develop, implement and evaluate an education program for improving clinical documentation and ICD-10 coding for stroke.

• Monitor the coding quality of stroke admissions via annual comparisons of the clinical diagnosis in the AuSCR and the diagnostic codes from the administrative data and specific validation studies to assess the impact of the education program.

• If applicable, seek advice on how to apply for amendments to the Australian Coding Standards for stroke (e.g. use of brain imaging results).

• Share knowledge on coding and statistical techniques for the preparation of datasets and for the analyses of linked data.

• Collaborate on the writing of grants or publications to improve clinical documentation and coding for stroke.

We welcome new members of the Australia and New Zealand Stroke Coding Working Group. The group meets quarterly via Zoom. 

To express interest in joining this Working Group please email Monique Kilkenny - monique.kilkenny@monash.edu