Coding of PerformanCe or PerformanCe of Coding QuantifiCation and oPtimization of mediCal information

Abstract

Numerous scholars have studied logic of performance and its implementation within hospitals. In this paper we analyse « performance » not as a self-evident paradigm but rather as a quality and as an outcome of negociations between actors. « Performance » is actually produced through multiple trials and institutionnal practices and is based on quantitative criterias. These data are the result of coding activity. We focus on the way they are produced and on the uncertainty of coding as a traduction of the medical language. Moreover coding is more than an uncertain mesure, it is also the result of economic concerns involved in the desciption of the hospital’s activity. We show that « performance » depends not only on calculated activities but also on calculating devices and on calculating actors.