The following pages contain results from the Payment by Results (PbR) Data Assurance Framework undertaken during 2008/09. The audits were completed using version 3 of the NHS Connecting for Health (CfH) clinical coding audit methodology on a sample of 300 finished consultant episodes (FCEs) from four different areas of activity at the trust.
Due to the targeted nature of these audits and the small sample of activity audited it is not recommended that these results be extrapolated further than the actual sample audited. However, they do provide information that will help both commissioners and providers decide if the controls over the accuracy of their activity data are adequate, and highlights areas of concern that they may wish to investigate further.
Our findings suggest there are number of issues which contribute to the errors including:
- National theme area selected from Trauma and Orthopaedics or General Medicine depending on national theme in the previous year.
- Broad, Medium and Focused areas recommended from the Audit Commission's PbR Benchmarker.
- Net monetary value of HRG changes calculated by applying the PbR pricing algorithm (including HRG tariff, Long Stay Payments, Short Stay Adjustments and Specialised Service Adjustments) to pre and post audit data.
In addition, as part of the 2008/09 national reporting process, comparative profiles for all Strategic Health Authorities, primary care trusts and trusts are available to download from these results pages.
For further information please see our Payment by Results data assurance framework 2008/09 - Key messages from Year 2 of the national clinical coding audit programme report.
To provide feedback or ask any questions about this information, please email pbr-assurance@audit-commission.gov.uk.