Are You Suffering from ‘Note Bloat?’

There’s been a disease going around—and no, we’re not talking about COVID-19.

It’s related to physical notes; think sticky notes, pieces of paper and more. Note-taking is a great habit for medical coders, but it can get out of control sometimes.

When that happens, it creates what is known as “note bloat.” Read on to discover more about what it is, how medical coders can identify it and how to avoid it.

What Is ‘Note Bloat?’

Note bloat is more problematic than it sounds. According to the AAPC, “note bloat is not a gastrointestinal disease but rather a euphemism for when a healthcare provider’s encounter note contains far too much irrelevant information. We began to see note bloat crop up with the implementation of electronic health record (EHR) systems. The use of templates, default text, drop-down lists, and copy-forward features make it too easy to add extraneous information into an encounter note.”

Identifying Note Bloat

Do you have sticky notes you don’t use? Or other information you’ve written down, but never references? These are good warning signs that you might be suffering from note bloat. Go through your notes and evaluate them for relevancy; anything that isn’t helpful or you no longer need is part of the note bloat problem. Also, if documentation is clogged at any point in your healthcare system, that blockage might be where note bloating has occured.

Avoiding Note Bloat

Now, the only question is, how do you avoid note bloat? Here are some tips to consider:

• Only record key information (findings, test results, diagnoses, etc.)
• Try to memorize as much relevant info for your daily tasks as you can
• Lean on others for quick questions instead of researching and taking notes
• Collaborate on notes with team members

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