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Is medical coding safe? - CTMT

Posted: Aug 03, 2012

EMR is done by the physicians directly, will this happen to medical coding eventually too?

No - Curious one

[ In Reply To ..]
No physician is going to take the time to code an entire hospital stay because they don't have the knowledge. Modifiers need to be assigned and codes need to be sequenced in the proper order. In outpatient settings, the codes may be assigned by a computer, but it still needs to be reviewed by a coder for the same reasons. It's very important to have things done correctly or it means a loss of thousands of dollars to the doctor or facility.

Outpatient settings - CTMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Thanks for your input, I have heard of outpatient clinics having the physicians select the codes and put into the system. Then they have the certified coder review it and correct it or add as necessary. I guess the part that I was concerned about was the way they are making the physicians learn the codes in medical school and put in the codes on the job.

???Making physicians learn the codes in medical school??? - Real-life explanation

[ In Reply To ..]
Physicians have always entered their own codes in offices and clinics. In the past they did it on a paper form sometimes called a charge ticket. Now the form is in the computer.

When you see a doctor and he checks off diagnoses and procedures on a carbon form, and the front office uses that as your bill/receipt, that is a charge ticket. That is the doctor doing the coding. For billing purposes, and if his office is large enough, a coder may review and correct or adjust it. If the office is small, they may have only a biller or front-office generalist who handles the bills.

If the office is electronic, all of this just happens electronically. At the end, the front desk prints a receipt.

Either way, it works out to be the same thing. Doctors are not doing it because of electronic records. They always did it.

If there is no coder on staff, the office will bring in a certified coder to review their needs for codes on the charge ticket, advise on correct coding, solve reimbursement problems, and audit the practice's coding. This is a lot like using an outside accountant if you are too small to keep one on staff.

And yes, this is a possible type of coding job. Some coders do this in addition to or instead of employee-type coding jobs. Some people on this board focus on office coding only, with the coder locked into the same, almost clerical, job for 30 years. Nothing could be farther from reality.

Nobody is making phyicians learn the codes in medical school or out of it. That would not even be possible, since there are bazillions of them and both they and the expectations of CMS, Medicaid, and everybody else change constantly. Coders do not even attempt to learn the codes! Doing so would be foolish. We just learn to use the codes and find what we need.

What is happening is a push to train physicians in
coding and documenting correctly so that their practices do not go under and so hospitals do not have to fight with them as much.

Excellent message, and I'll add something else - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I'll add to what the poster just said, "What is happening is a push to train physicians in coding and documenting correctly so that their practices do not go under and so hospitals do not have to fight with them as much."

Because doctors are learning in medical school just how important the coding is to their economic survival, they are much more likely to use the services of credentialed coders, (CCS, CCS-P, CPC) experts in the practice of coding the right way and being able to know why it's right if challenged.

Is coding safe - rie

[ In Reply To ..]
ABSOLUTELY NOT. Companies are more concerned about cheap rather than quality. If you look on the web in 2011, more people took the coding exam in India than in the U.S. At one point I made approximately 72K/year, for over 10 years transcribing and this all changed in 2003. It is time to go into another field. There may be some jobs but there will be very few that you can earn enough and support yourself.

I think you missed some AHIMA news recently and you're giving out incorrect information - sm

[ In Reply To ..]

From the AHIMA web site:

"Effective May 11, 2012 - The Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) Exam is no longer available in India and the U.A.E until further notice."

Back to your own message though, I believe your message is overly dramatic. If one took what you have to say literally and went to other "safe" fields, there would be no jobs. Nothing is 100% perfect. In fact, it never has been. Farmers have a good year and a bad one. Health problems keep people from doing a job they trained to do. Companies go out of business leaving workers stranded with no skills to do anything else.

You're using extremist language for some unexplained agenda that you keep coming back on here to promote.

Bizarre post! - Wonder where people get this stuff

[ In Reply To ..]
I am dumbfounded by the utter nonsense in that post. Coding is quite safe AND it offers opportunity for growth and further development of your abilities in coding-related areas and in HIM and informatics.

I would say "SAFER", but not entirely safe. A lot of - people have their heads in the sand re: coding.

[ In Reply To ..]
I fear that a lot of people who think otherwise are going to be blindsided when it finally gets downgraded to a work-at-home sweatshop job, just like those of us in MT did.

You obviously have no idea what coding is - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
You are talking about what you think coding is, but you do not realize that it is not what you imagine at all. Clearly, you are too closed-minded to find out differently.

A lot of them are already coding their diagnoses in - their reports. Nothing is safe anymore.

[ In Reply To ..]
Even radiologists are finding their work outsourced offsite, because x-rays were finally digitized so that they can be sent electronically anywhere in the world. If it can be done on a computer, it can be outsourced and/or offshored.

I guess someday we're all gonna be fighting tooth and nail for motel housekeeping and janitorial jobs, because that's all that'll be left. And of course, they'll require all job applicants to have a Bachelor's degree.

Doctors have done that since the beginning - Stop the hysteria

[ In Reply To ..]
Doctors have used charge tickets and coded their own services since forever. That isn't what coders do, though.

There is more to coding than that. You do not seem to understand what coding is. If you do not know any more than to spread uninformed, doomsday hysteria, maybe you should not offer advice at all.

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