flynn043

This morning my alarm clock went off at 7:00am, just as it does on most work days. Like most anal-retentive coders, I have my morning routine, which includes the usual suspects like brushing teeth and shuffling into the kitchen for that all important initial cup of coffee. Once my breath is fresh and my eyelids are open, I flip on the computer and wallah! I'm at work for the day. My work day routine begins by scanning my work, Coder Coach, and client email accounts. Sometimes I venture onto the Coder Coach page on Facebook to see if anyone has posted anything. Maybe I send or receive an IM to or from a client or coworker. Maybe I actually pick up the phone and call someone (not terribly likely). But rarely, in my daily dealings as a remote coding consultant, does my work involve face-to-face communication with people. And frankly, I miss it. Let me be clear. I love communicating through email. I have relationships with friends in other states solely based on email. I ha...

I meet so many people who are out there looking for their initial break into the field of coding. And so many of them are discouraged when they are continuously told that they need experience in order to be eligible for hire. The first recommendation I make is always to volunteer and many times that advice is met with resentment - "I have a degree - why should I have to volunteer?" Well this is where I usually try to put on my politically correct attitude and explain why but I think what I'm going to start saying is "I have a degree, certifications, and 15 years of experience and I volunteer." As a matter of fact, I can't name a single person in the coding field who's successful who doesn't continue to volunteer because so much of the coding profession is governed by volunteers. And if you're a member of AHIMA or the AAPC and you don't feel like you're getting enough out of your membership (or, like me, you're just really passiona...

So you want to be a coder. And not just that, you want to be a hospital coder because, on average, they make more money than physician coders. And you don't just want to be a hospital coder, you want to be an inpatient hospital coder because then you get to look at the whole chart and piece together the patient's clinical picture. If this is your goal, then everything you need to know you will not learn in school. And that's mainly because there is so much to learn and practical experience is key. Most of all, if you want to be an inpatient coder, you need to know diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) because in hospitals, it's all about DRGs and case mix - and compliance. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, fear not - here's a primer on DRGs! I wish I could say I cover it all here, but this is just a beginning! What is a DRG? The ICD-9-CM coding system contains about 16,000 diagnosis codes and ICD-10-CM contains over 68,000 codes. Imagine trying to de...