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Old 12-14-2017, 02:39 PM
fingerguy fingerguy is offline
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Default Medical Coders

Do we have any medical coders on here? I am trying to get an understanding/feeling of what the classes are like. What you have to memorize, what are you working on, etc.
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Old 12-14-2017, 03:04 PM
Rodger Knox Rodger Knox is offline
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Do you mean transcriptionist? (Typing a doctor's report from a recording) That's a disappearing career, voice recognition software has taken over. My wife has 30 years experience, and there's no jobs.
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Old 12-14-2017, 03:23 PM
amyFB amyFB is offline
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While the classroom materials and structure are unknown to me, from the employment side of it I understand medical coding to be similar to dealership warranty claims.

What this means in practical application is that the clerk is responsible for identifying the code that can be supported by the documentation on file. AND, if a choice of codes presents itself, the clerk is to choose the one that nets the office a higher dollar amount.

It's an important job in the sense that the coding is what is used by the insurance companies to reimburse the doctor and to know how much to bill the patient.

here's a link that might give you some more info on the classroom scenario: http://medicalcodingandbillingclasse...-classes-like/
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Old 12-14-2017, 06:44 PM
Otterhound Otterhound is offline
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One thing to consider is that there are those like myself who have chosen to not participate in the medical insurance racket .
Coding is irrelevant to us because no insurance is involved .
How to deal with people like myself needs to be taught because we are out there and must be dealt with at some point .
The beginning of my CPAP experience quickly introduced me to coding . This was in 2007 .
It quickly became apparent that the people that I was dealing with were totally unprepared in how to deal with an individual that had absolute power over their own medical decisions .
It was very frustrating , but I did not charge them for the lesson .
They literally did not know how to do a direct business transaction with an individual .
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Old 12-14-2017, 09:59 PM
Hoyt Hoyt is offline
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I’d check the American Academy of Professional Coders forum for info. They certify coders and it’s required for a lot of jobs

Last edited by Hoyt; 12-15-2017 at 09:06 AM.
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Old 12-14-2017, 10:33 PM
XYRN XYRN is offline
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Coders are not "clerks".
They are at minimum cerificated (is that a word?) and most are required to have Associate and Bachelor's degrees.
They are professionals.

ICD-10 has about 68,000 codes and many coders, like my wife, have much of the hierarchy memorized.

Coders, to be effective, must have a great deal of knowledge about anatomy/physiology and must be able to visualize the surgery based solely on the jumbled notes and the often incomplete and/or contradictory notes from several providers.
One patient in an ICU for one week may have over a hundred provider notes authored by a dozen or more providers of varying specialty.

Whether or not the bill is submitted to insurance a coder codes the encounter.

It's a high-stress job; the employer wants the coder to bill as much as possible and the payor wants as small a bill as possible.

There is much oversight from both ends and they are constantly under the microscope.

There is a huge commitment to expensive continuing education requirements and the resources are often limited. AHIMA is the largest certifying body in the US.

Much of the interpretation is subjective and coders need to wade through tons of documentation and navigate and decipher the various wording of the providers to determine what was specifically done.

For example, if a doctor states that something is "caused by...." that is vastly different from "found in the setting of..." or "likely due to...".

Or, something can be stated in a procedural note but if it is not in the discharge summary is is unbillable.

My wife is now a coding auditor and the difficulty and stress has increased by magnitudes.

Coding is crucial to keeping the lights on and the doors open, they are the lynch pin of the financial liquidity of the entity.
And, they are paid about half of what I make as an RN in an ICU and in some ways their job is harder.

Just my $0.02, Kris
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Last edited by XYRN; 12-14-2017 at 10:44 PM.
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Old 12-15-2017, 07:39 AM
fingerguy fingerguy is offline
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Some of the comments were not helpful. But it's XRYN's reply/post that helped me decide it's not for me.

Thank you for that.
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Old 12-20-2017, 11:57 AM
buzzardwhiskey buzzardwhiskey is offline
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I was a MA (medical assistant) before I was a nurse and the former job required a working knowledge of medical coding. Specifically, I "knew" about a dozen codes and their modifications and would apply them to the paperwork as a patient had just finished and before the records went to billing where the codes were often modified again based on the docs notes.

When a doc would come out he would stop by to tell me what he wanted to bill and if there was anything out of the ordinary.

Billing is where medical coding really plays a major part and you often memorize three or four dozen codes. But it's not rocket science and doesn't require an incredible memory.

A few years later I found myself writing software for an insurance firm and again messing around with medical codes.
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Old 12-20-2017, 06:30 PM
GHS GHS is offline
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For all the stress and micro management that goes on what can one, in a ballpark figure expect to get paid for their trouble to go to school, learn this, find a job and earn a living???
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Old 12-20-2017, 06:42 PM
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Hope this link helps....https://explorehealthcareers.org/car...medical-coder/
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