Managing a remote coding team comes with more than just technical complexity—it’s a people challenge. Jessica Watson, Facility Coding Manager at Infinx, has spent nearly a decade refining her approach to leadership in the revenue cycle management (RCM) space. Her experience leading fully remote teams offers valuable insight into how to balance productivity, accuracy, and team engagement in a dynamic healthcare environment.
Creating Structure That Supports Performance
Effective leadership starts with the right structure. Jessica emphasizes three key elements: productivity, accuracy, and full-time engagement. It’s not enough for coders to be fast—managers also need to ensure that work is completed consistently throughout the day and meets accuracy standards.
Adapt productivity expectations based on individual performance, rotating team members across different queues to keep their knowledge fresh. This flexibility helps prevent burnout and encourages cross-training, ensuring that coders can support multiple areas when needed.
Building Accountability Without Micromanaging
Remote work offers autonomy, but that freedom must be balanced with oversight. Use built-in analytics from systems like Epic and Cerner to monitor coder activity and identify inconsistencies. If a coder is meeting volume goals but showing limited system activity, it’s a sign to dig deeper.
Rather than micromanaging, create a culture of accountability where team members understand expectations and are supported in meeting them. This helps managers recognize both high performers and those who may need extra guidance—or a reset on expectations.
Keeping Remote Teams Connected
Maintaining team cohesion in a remote environment takes intention. Encourage regular team meetings and sets up small peer groups within chat platforms to create space for real-time collaboration and knowledge sharing.
This setup allows coders to talk through tricky cases, flag recurring documentation issues, and stay up to date on coding guidance. Importantly, it ensures that information isn’t siloed among a few experienced team members, reducing the risk that knowledge gaps disrupt performance when someone is unavailable.
Supporting Coders Through Documentation Hurdles
Inaccurate or incomplete documentation continues to be a key bottleneck in RCM workflows. Coders often spot patterns that leadership or providers might miss—such as missing signatures, vague history and physicals, or unaddressed queries.
Act as a bridge between coders and client-side clinical documentation improvement (CDI) teams, surfacing these issues and helping drive resolutions. When feedback is taken seriously, the result is improved E&M levels and more accurate claims submission.
Addressing Underperformance with Confidence
For leaders stepping into a struggling team, the first step is establishing consistent productivity expectations. From there, performance can be evaluated more clearly and coaching can be tailored.
Jessica recommends acting quickly when coders fail to meet expectations. With the rise of remote work, some coders attempt to balance multiple jobs or disengage from their roles. Swift intervention—paired with data from reporting tools—ensures that the team is composed of those who are both capable and committed.
Elevating the Role of Continuing Education
With payer guidelines and documentation requirements shifting frequently, coders must stay current. Jessica encourages professional development through webinars, credentialing updates, and coding association resources.
She also reminds managers to support these efforts by offering time and access to continuing education—especially if the company is already paying for memberships. Investing in education ensures that coders stay engaged and maintain the expertise needed for accuracy.
Final Thoughts
Effective coding leadership is about more than meeting metrics. It’s about creating an environment where coders are trusted, supported, and held accountable. That means understanding how each team member works best, rotating responsibilities to avoid burnout, and maintaining strong communication channels.
The right mix of structure, trust, and engagement leads to a coding operation that consistently delivers—no matter where the team sits.
Want to dive deeper into this topic? Request the webinar on-demand here.