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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Getting the most for your money

By Penny Bazz


Looking for a new job but don't find all the distractions at the work place quite for you, how about working from home, does that appeal to your senses? "I worked in a doctor's office for a few years until I had some experience, and now I work from home, and I love what I do," Explains Michelle Duram, a medical coder in Indianapolis.

Medical coders are basically translators from doctor's notes, descriptions of medical diagnoses and procedures, to laboratory results, and radiologic results. The codes are predetermined and place into manuals for coders to reference as they work, there are several different coding systems including CPT, HCPCS, ICD-9-CM, and ICD-10 and; the 11th revision of the classification has already started and will continue until 2015.

With the cost of health care continuing to go up one wants to get the most for their money; medical coders have a tremendous responsibility to correctly transfer information from medical charts or physician notes into the proper, accurate form for billing. At Altegra Health they know coding inaccuracies can dramatically impact reimbursement and compliance risks, the challenges are compounded by continuous changes in different coding systems, payor rules, reimbursement methodologies, and the latest technology of electronic medical records. Altegra delivers expert consulting, education, and coding support services to their clients with evaluations to improve financial performance and increase cash flow while streamlining operations for the best performance in the industry.

Altegra reviews records for the top physician admitters to determine the accuracy of physician documentation and coding and continually conducts audits of their coding staff to determine their current accuracy levels and to evaluate their readiness for the coding changes with the new code sets such as that of ICD-10 and 11. Reviewing records across various service types and conducting a representative sampling of the most common diagnoses and procedures helps give a detailed audit of medical record documentations and coding quality. Because of this, coders will be well trained in the advancement of technology as a medical coder will spend a lot of time in front of a computer.

Medical coders do not need to have a college degree, but some programs offer an asocial degree where classes typically taken are in Database Management, Medical Terminology, Physiology, Data Coding and Abstractions, as coders will have to learn the specialized medical codes that make medical information readable by all health systems. Not all medical coders are certified, however most employers prefer to hire medical coders who are certified. Exams are offered by either the America Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) or the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC).

Medical coding is a major factor when it comes to healthcare for members and healthcare clients, it's imperative that the work be done in a manner that meets all legal requirements with the determination from top physician admitters to process the physician documentation and coding accurately.




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