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Considering coding school. Can some current coders please tell me - sm - Melody

Posted: Jan 06, 2015

why coding would not eventually be replaced by electronic systems in the future? Do they not have software that can pick out words from the text and assign the codes? What does a coder do that cannot be automated by a machine?

Please don't think I am being insulting. I know very little about coding and have just started researching it. I am an MT for 20+ years.

Melody - Current coder

[ In Reply To ..]
Hi. I am a fairly new coder (about 2 years) but where I work, the documentation leaves a lot to be desired, which is one of many reasons I believe that they will always need coders in some capacities. We currently do not have computer assisted coding (CAC) and they have no plans for it in the immediate future, but I would certainly not rule it out down the road.

That being said, documentation is key in coding. Basically, if it isn't documented, it didn't happen. For example, today I had a case that appeared to be a simple laparoscopic procedure. When reading the OP note, it was clear that he did an open procedure after he finished the laparoscopic one. This was not listed in the procedure(s) or in the pre- and postop diagnoses. I'm not sure a computer would catch this or not. Maybe some more experienced coders will weigh in.

Sorry this post got a little long. To me though, this is one of many examples why coding cannot be (completely) automated by a machine. There is just too much money at stake for the hospitals.

As a side note, I read what the speech "wreck" spits out day in and day out and, as a former MT, it drives me nuts, but it does not affect how or what I code because I can figure out what the "machine" meant and code appropriately.

Good luck in your research!

Thank you, Current coder. sm - Melody

[ In Reply To ..]
Do you think if I started coding school now, and finished in a year, I could get 10 years' worth of working out of it? I appreciate your help.

Melody - Current coder

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't have a crystal ball, but I sure hope so because I'm hoping to work for at least another 15 years!

the problem is getting in. I know coders that are certified and - cant find jobs because they dont have experience

[ In Reply To ..]
catch 22 at it's finest.

I have considered that. sm - Melody

[ In Reply To ..]
However, I am willing to take a chance as I am getting help with paying for it. Also, I remember when I got into MT decades ago, the same problem existed. I did not go to school for MT, just kept sending resume after resume and trying to convince someone to hire me. After two years, someone did. I found that, although all job ads stated two years of experience required, when they saw that I had just a few months, they were willing to at least meet with me. It was easy after that, until now. I am out of work for the first time in my adult life.

I have a severe anxiety disorder and this MT career has been a blessing from God. My anxiety limits the jobs I can do. I pray I can find something else that I can function in until I retire.

Thanks for the replies. God bless.

Lots of options in coding - CCS, CCS-P, CPC Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
Please see the post below that gives income and unemployment rates for coders and new coders. I don't want to have to retype it letter by letter on this tablet.

New graduates in every field have trouble finding a first job. Coding is actually better than most. You need good schooling, and you need to pass at least the CPC. Passing the CCS is even better.

Not all schools will qualify you to sit the CCS. Andrews does, and having graduated from there, I recommend them. They use traditional textbooks and references that are used by coders and auditors, not online screens and error-filled homemade booklets, and have qualified instructors. They are reasonably priced, considering what you get, but ...sadly ... do not offer crummy, free laptops or discounts for shilling for them. (I know, I've tried. LOL) They don't have recruiters or people who go around to chat boards pretending to be students so they can post advertisments.

I keep hearing about those unemployed friends of our resident anti-coding noncoder, but I don't know where they were trained, what certifications they have, or anything else. On the other hand, I am employed, and I work with and know hundreds of coders who all ... just like every working coder today ... somehow managed to get hired with ... no ... experience. I have also had the opportunity to decline to hire coders both with and without experience, and I can assure you that you would not have hired them either. Some folks are unemployable in any field, you know. Nothing changes because they took up coding.

Coding is going to be around a while, but coding is not just ONE job. It is unlike MT in that respect. There is a job "coding," but I use that word to mean a SKILL SET, not one job. That skill set is the prerequisite for the job of front-line coding, but also for many other jobs in health information management, like compliance, auditing, clinical documentatiin improvement, and others.

When you ask if computer assisted coding is going to do away with coding, I wonder just whatyou think coding is, because you cannot replace all those jobs with a computer.

Can software find words and apply codes? Yeah, but that isn't what we do. The job is not just plopping in a number for every big medical word you see. In any event, the words are often wrong, or incomplete, or irrelevant, which is why we get paid what we do.

Please read below for more tidbits. There is some useful information in between the fights.

Medical Coding experience - Dorothy

[ In Reply To ..]
I am about to finish the Career Step Medical Billing and Coding and I am very excited because they just announced a partnership with an HIM company called IOD Incorporated. They are hiring Career Step graduates and some of their locations offer remote coding jobs.

They have an offer right now where you can get a free laptop or $300 off when you sign up. Here is the link for that offer:

Medical Coding schools - Dorothy

To Melody - cj

[ In Reply To ..]
Our facility has CAC (computer assisted coding). When we first got it, I was afraid for my job. Now after using it for about a year, I no longer have that fear! Ours does not code with any specificity nor does it know coding rules. plus it cannot decipher the documentation, and as someone else mentioned, the documentation quite often leaves quite a bit to be desired. It takes a human being to figure out what the practitioner was actually saying. For example, within a report, it may say that a patient has a particular cancer and then may say a history of that cancer. the computer will assign both. it requires a logical thinking brain to figure out which is correct. there are countless simlar scenarios. It also does not know when to use combination codes, when additional codes are required, when codes cannot be used together, sequencing rules, what codes can't be use as primary, etc. Contrary to what we were told, our productivity has declined overall instead of the increases we were supposed to see. N doubt this will improve with time, but I can't imagine there will ever be a time when a human being won't be needed. I do think our roles will change and we may become eventually more editors than coders and I am sure that will not be in our favor financially, but I think that is a ways down the road.

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