The Legacy Dynamic User: Many of the coders using Walter were ex-nurses who were now applying their domain knowledge to medical coding. Departures from the entrenched, but dated UI and Information Systems prevalent in the hospitals were challenging for them. Data density, however, was not a problem—which was convenient, as there was a lot of information that needed to be available at a glance.

There was also a sizeable number of coders who were much younger, and had undergone vocational training specific to medical coding. Although relatively inexperienced, they were adaptive and IT savvy. More receptive to innovative interfaces and brimming with ideas.

Both sets of users were united in their desire for a system that would liberate them from how cumbersome, inefficient, and disjointed the legacy hospital systems & resources were; and also in the desire for a system that could act as a co-pilot and facilitator.

The Remote Connected User: Some of the coders were working remotely (even freelancing) from countries such as Canada & Portugal, and being able to track their time, staying connected to, and being trained by the resident experts in the team/hospitals were also key objectives.

Switzerland is multi-lingual, and Swisscoding’s operations, while bootstrapped in the French-speaking part, soon expanded to other language locales (primarily German) as well. Walter, too had to be multi-lingual, in more ways than one.

The requirement of ensuring coding quality and the ability to gather feedback and coordinate seamlessly within peer groups was universal across these user groups. As was efficient worklist & time management.

Walter as a Workflow Solution & Co-pilot.

Available in three languages (FR, DE, EN), Walter was designed and developed to comprehensively cover the coding workflow, right from worklists, case creation (manual or automatic), automatic data injection and case assistance, case “regrouping”, simulation and suggestions. While initially imagined as a “butler”, it became a “copilot”.

Along the way, coders could also take care of more mundane clerical tasks, track their time on various cases, raise documentation requests, take notes, IT tickets, and communicate with their peers in the context of each case.

Real-time coding feedback (through integration with Queen* & Lexicode** ) and manual reviews were also incorporated into the workflow.