A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

CMTs who transition - to Coding

Posted: Mar 20, 2012

Will you or have you let your CMT expire?

CMTs who transition to coding - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I am a CMT who is about to transition to coding and I have no intention of letting my CMT lapse. IMO, it is not very hard to get 30 CECs every 3 years, so I definitely plan to keep it up.

CECs - Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
You should keep it up, I agree. You never know when it might come in handy.

Coding CEUs should fulfill some of your credits. Your coding coursework itself should count for some. The A&P, pathophysiology, and med terms should definitely count. (I say "should" because I have not seen the requirements lately and I think they changed them.)

I let mine lapse. It was a pure waste of time & money. - It didnt even get me 0.05 cpl more.

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Letting mine lapse - it's useless - sm - Biller (but am a CPC)

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It is totally useless, whether or not I am in MT. No one cares anymore (though they say they do). Used to get more money with it but if you do now, it is piddly.

I'm totally out of MT after 28 years and don't plan on going back. I needed a change and the way MT jobs are going, it was none too soon!

Are you a coder? The question was about keeping it - While coding

[ In Reply To ..]
The question was whether there was any benefit to keeping it when transitioning to coding. It asked for coders' opinions.

It might not have been any benefit to you in MT, but coding is different.

I think there can be an advantage to keeping it up at least for a while. Credentials are meaningful and respected in coding. They are seen as evidence of good things on your part. They never hurt. A lot of coders have strings of them.

There is also increasig emphasis on clinical documentation improvement and EHR templated documents. I can see that a CMT might help you establish yourself as having knowledge in those areas. A lot of coders don't, you know.

lapse - I really

[ In Reply To ..]
dislike having to give that organization more money for membership. However, that is a good way to get the CEUs - the Plexus and online tests and that the only way to get those is by being a member. Also, on top of paying AHIMA and AAPC dues and also keeping up CEUs for both orgs, it gets expensive. I do think my CMT shows that I had a good beginning in the medical chart and with A&P. I just wonder if employers who ask, "what is a CMT" really see the value in it and if it shows anyone besides myself anything. Oh well, still thinking...

You can retain the credential without membership - Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
You do not have to be a member to keep the CMT credential. I think it is only $55 for 3 years. You can gain a lot of the CEUs from coding-related activities.

Do employers see the value in it? That does not matter. You are not applying for MT positions, but for CODING positions and other jobs related to that. Coding employers will have no clue what it is. That isn't a reflection on the credential or on the employer -- it just is not something they happen to know about. You just have to explain it to them. Just tell them what the CMT represents. Explain how it fits with the job. Explain your specialized abilities--knowledge of medical reports, knowledge of physician documentation practices, knowledge of surgical procedures or whatever it is you transcribed. "I have an understanding of what SHOULD be in medical documentation. I have had specialized training in that and I passed a certification exam in it."

As an example of how you can use this, CMS requires physicians to document certain things in reports. Most coders have little understanding of what those are and how they get there. To them "HEENT" is a bunch of letters. They don't understand that a remark about the abdomen is not part of HEENT. You will never have that problem.

Other coders can't understand drug dosages and other units of measure. You don't have a problem with it. You also will never have a problem finding a drug in an index, no matter what the index is. Other coders will be stumped, but you'll just google it.

If a provider needs to set up a canned text thing for a procedure and can't get it right so that it meets what coders need and what CMS requires, most coders can't help. They might be able to look at the finished product and complain that something is missing, but they can't help the provider build that report. You can find a sample online somewhere, maybe you'll remember one another provider did, and even go sit with the provider to watch what he does. You can write that report down for the provider--I guarantee it. Other coders would not know where to begin.

If you want a vivid illustration of your abilities in this regard, google "CMS evaluation and management guidelines 1995." Also do this for 1997. You might have to leave off the word "guidelines," I can't remember. There are two versions which are slightly different. These are pdf files which you can download, about 60 pages long. They explain what a physician has to document in an office or hospital visit in order to demonstrate that certain levels of care were met.

The guidelines tell you what needs to be stated in the chief complaint, in the history of present illness, in the medical and social histories, in the review of systems, and in the physical exam. Take a look at that. In particular, look at some of the PE parts in the 1997 version.

Did anything in there . . . look familiar? I bet it will.

Why is this significant? Because coders who are not MTs have to be taught that. NOT taught what the guidelines say, but FIRST taught what a chief complain, HPI, ROS, and PE are. It remains a screaming fit to most of them, too. They never really get it.

First of all, this is one reason MTs have a leg up in coding. Second, this is going to give you a huge advantage in documentation improvement activities. You understand all of that stuff, so you can speak intelligently to doctors about it.

That's what you work into your job application and interviews. The employer might have no clue what a CMT is, so you tell them. You explain exactly what advantage it gives you. It IS an advantage and you have a right to take it.

OMG, pardon ME. Can you read? - sm - Biller but CPC

[ In Reply To ..]
What a snotty reply to me you gave. Who said only current coders could respond to her question?? Coders really do think a lot of themselves, as evidenced by this board. No one can give a differing response without being jumped on if it doesn't align with their thoughts.

I am not currently a coder at this exact moment but have had my CPC. I am billing at the moment because I got a great job billing and can move back to coding eventually but needed to get my foot in the door this way, if you must know.

Anyway, the CMT does me no good, coding or not coding. No one at my job cared about my CMT. Most people don't even know what it is. MY opinion. Hopefully I helped the original poster and it doesn't need a reply by someone looking down on billers. BTW, this is a BILLING and CODING board.

OMG, pardon ME! I wasn't replying to YOU. - Follow the threads

[ In Reply To ..]
Excuse me, but you have no reason to be offended. I wasn't talking to you or about you. I hadn't even read your post when I wrote that.

I replied to the post that begins "I let mine lapse." It is the same one you replied to.

Follow the indentations to see which post was in reply to which. They go in order of the indentations, not the time they were posted.

I had wondered if the "I let mine lapse" person was a coder or not. They didn't specify. It DOES matter because the question was not about MTs who feel it is useless, but about coders who wonder if they have a reason to keep up the credential. Lots of MTs here feel the CMT is useless, but the person wanted opinions from people in the coding field. As far as I'm concerned, you qualify.

I apologize - sm - CPC

[ In Reply To ..]
I got really blasted on this board a while back and I am touchy about it. I see now that you were not, in fact, replying to me. Again, I am sorry.

Please don't bring the "OMG" rudeness from the MT section to this section - Another Regular Reader

[ In Reply To ..]
I enjoy this coding section because it doesn't have the rudeness and one-liners that the MT section has. There are certain posters who typically fire away with "OMG" and other sarcastic comments that show their ignorance. I had hoped we would be free of that here on this section where people are or are working toward professional coding careers.

Agree, let's work toward building a great resource here. - Thanks

[ In Reply To ..]
MTs need to have a good forum where they can explore new options safely.

I am keeping mine. I want all possible doors to remain open. (nm) - who knows what the future brings

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