Professional Practice and Innovation: The Coding Masterpiece: A Framework for the Formal Pathways and Processes of Health Classification

This article empirically defines the formal pathways and processes that enable and frame hospital clinical classification in an activity-based funding environment. These structured actions include: learning and training; abstracting; clinical knowledge locating and confirming; coder-doctor communication; coder-coder communication; the complicated sub-set of code searching and decision-making processes that constitute practical clinical ‘coding’; allocation to diagnosis-related groups; confirmation of financial reimbursement; auditing; and quality management practices to ensure the integrity of the multiple outputs and outcomes of clinical coding. An analogy of these complex, exacting, and knowledge-dense work practices is made with the 20th century avant-garde art movement of Cubism: the creation of Pablo Picasso's The three musicians is used as a metaphor for clinical/health classification work.