I've held many different positions in my past employment history, but I considered only two for this assignment. The jobs couldn't have been more different although I enjoyed them for the same reasons. I thoroughly loved working at McDonald's Restaurant in my late twenties and early thirties. The last twelve years I have worked for a radiologist in a private practice. I like helping people, and at this job I get a chance to do that in several ways on every patient. My job description includes checking patient information for accuracy which is necessary for keeping in contact with the patient for either results or billing. The second step in my job is to read the report on the patient after the diagnostic testing is done to determine the coding that will be used. The code will either be the problem that was discovered as the result of the test or the symptoms that brought the patient into the office for the test. Thirdly, I must then search for the best code to match either the results of the tests or the symptoms that were exhibited by the patient and code it out. These steps are important because what I do decides if the insurance company pays or denies the patient's claim. The accuracy of the coding is also something not to be taken lightly as the coding on the insurance claim becomes a permanent part of the patient's medical file which follows him/her for the rest of their lives. …show more content…
I then follow to step two which is reading a report and this step would be Sequence because I am reviewing something. The third step of my job is searching for a code and then coding it. The searching of the code is the Technical Reasoning part of the job and the actual coding would be also be in my opinion Technical Reasoning as well because to solve a problem you need all the parts to make a definitive
In the health care system, there are a lot of codes that help diagnose, treat, and discharge patients daily. Codes help nurses
When people think about jobs in the health care field, it can be easy to assume that most jobs involve direct, hands-on patient care. What many people don’t realize is that administrative jobs are equally vital to ensuring quality health care services. Medical billing and coding is an important piece in the administrative puzzle that makes up the vast health industry. As with most administrative jobs, medical coding and billing professionals need to have excellent attention to detail, as one wrong code or inaccurate statement can have an extremely negative
Responsible coder collects post and manages account payments, submitting claims and keeping in touch with insurance companies. If patient information is coded incorrectly or incomplete it could leave an impact that can be brought to a claim. Inaccuracy in patient information can leads to denials, none payment and investigation. It is important to get all the details right by verifying insurance coverage properly. Make sure that the patient’s name is spelled correctly, date of birth and sex of patient are correct; and most important be sure that the policy number is valid.0verall before claims are sent, documentation should be in order and the claim should be checked for completeness and accuracy.
I am very familiar with medical coding and understand how it is used because I worked in the medical field for many years, and I used those codes for much of that time. At my last job, I helped with the billing for some time, did the insurance referrals for several years and got the insurance pre-authorizations/pre-approvals
An accurate and specific documentation of universally accepted set of codes are important for the protection of healthcare providers as well as increased reimbursement for services received. These codes are for the validation of which services the patient received from their health care provider ( (Page, 2009). Having the correct codes in place insures the provider with the information needed by the health insurance carrier. Maintained by the AMA (American Medical Association), this universal numeric assignment is also used for developing guidelines for medical care review as well as data collection for medical education and research (Scott, 2013).
The majority of the time the use of HIM coders are involved in billing and reimbursements. However, coding specialists are important players within the healthcare industry.(Davis, 2014,2007,2002) They certify that providers maintain accuracy with coding procedures and government rules. (Davis, 2014,2007,2002) HIM functions and complex of regulatory requirements where coding can be very challenging. (AHIMA, 2016) The coders follow guidelines of the American Health Information Management Association AHIMA) Code of Ethics. (AHIMA, 2016) On the patient level, it is vitally important for the coder to code accurately because this information will trail the patient success throughout their course of treatment and beyond.
Her responsibility as a medical necessity coder is to approve physician orders. When physicians order tests for their patients, Ms. Williams has to verify that CMS will pay for the specific test. In the event the order is rejected, she will contact the physicians. This could be the most difficult part of the job for her. Before she contacts the physicians, several steps would have to be taken. CMS requires a very high level of specificity when submitting orders. The majority of the time when providers are filling out order forms, they are not abiding by the strict guidelines CMS has. It is her job to help the providers reach the level of specificity with out disclosing exactly what CMS wants. This can frustrate the providers when there is a copious amount of hither and thither to get an approval. Providers are vocal about their annoyance and they feel like this is getting in the way of caring for the patients. Observing her in her element, I can conclude that she loves what she does and that she thrives under pressure. Witnessing the medical necessity coding process was a wonderful start to my day; the last area I will be in is Vital Stats, Death Certificates after my
In order for a patient’s insurance claim to go through correctly, you (as a medical assistant) need to code correctly. In the medical field coding is used to identify diagnoses patient’s have and services provided for them. The codes are then submitted to the patient’s insurance company, so the patient does not have to pay full price for services.
The major responsibility of a Medical Coder is to add standardize codes to test, treatments, and procedures in the patients records for the medical biller to use the color report to collect the payments from the insurance provider and the patient.
As the CFO of Health Care Systems, Inc., I feel like, in order to have proper reimbursement, correct coding is very important. If the codes are wrong, the charges will be wrong, as well. When you submit codes, the federal government uses them to reduce health care fraud. It is always good practice to double check your numbers before you submit them. “So, knowing the difference a diagnosis code of 280 (iron deficiency anemia) and 820 (a fracture of the neck of the femur) will help protect your practice from fraud and
The information the coder needs to get from the health records is very important because this will provide the correct information on the claim when it is billed out. If the steps are not followed correctly then the information being submitted will not be correct. Here are the steps that need to be taken to find the proper sequencing when diagnosing and coding are the coder needs to find the main term or terms in the patient’s medical records.
When it comes to coding the best way to do this is step by step. Precertification's are steps that need to be taken when it comes to coding, Patient name, DOB, INS information, Dx(s) code, CPT code. Also when sending a patient for blood work are steps that need to be taken when looking for the tests that the doctor has ordered and the right coding for each test. The patient health is in our hands when working in the medical field so it's very important to do research before doing anything us and if not certain about a code it won't hurt to ask for help. When it comes to errors yes this can lead to someone losing there job and putting the patient in danger so the best way in doing this will be step by step, do the research first and make
One of the most important things that a medical assistant (MA) can do to is to make sure that instructions for quality control (QC) and patient testing are followed (Kinn’s p 1015). Policies, procedures and checklists are developed to ensure that each test is performed within the guidelines. If these guidelines are not followed, the test results can result in a misdiagnosis or in a delayed treatment. Examples of guidelines for laboratory and equipment (Kinn’s p 1014-1016): 1. Maintaining and calibrating equipment. 2.
I confirm patient information to make sure that I’m interviewing the right patient and also recording medical history; taking vital signs; confirming purpose of visit or treatment to satisfied providers.
specialist determine the ICD, CPT or HPCS coding. The coder or biller may have to communicate with the healthcare provider if there are any questions on any of the diagnoses, treatments or duration of the office visit (Dietsch, 2011). Because insurance companies are very strict on correct medical billing and coding, a small mistake can cause the insurance company to deny the claim and will then require the doctor to fix the error and the claim will need to be resubmitted (Cocchi & White, n.d.).