flynn043

The last few weeks have been more than the usual crazy.  I knew going into September that I was going to have to take every rare opportunity I found for a little relaxation.  Since August, I have spent more weekend nights away than at home and while most of my trips have been for fun and not work, I am a person who relishes a routine schedule and values downtime - probably like a lot of coders out there. My September travels began with a trip to North Carolina for a wedding followed closely by a work trip to Kansas City for training.  The whole time I had my eyes open, considering ideas for my blog and looking for inspiration in the normally mundane daily grind.  I have a few ideas that will take more thought before putting to paper - er, PC - so stay tuned.  But it was something quite literal that inspired today's code for the day: a heavenly day spent at the spa with coworkers. I know what you're thinking. A relaxing day at the spa with coworkers is an oxymoro...

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In case you haven't been paying attention lately, there are a few things happening in the health care industry.  We have Obamacare, the insurgence of accountable health organizations, implementation of electronic health records (EHRs), and a firm date for ICD-10.  If you google "fastest growing industries" you will find many of the top 50 jobs are within health care.  And according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for a medical records/health information technician (including coding) is projected to grow faster than average at 21% by the year 2020. For a lot of people pondering a change in careers, these statistics might seem like a no brainer, yet the transition to ICD-10 has a lot of people wondering:  is now a good time for a Z56.1 ( Change of job) ? A selection of my codebooks - note the ancient green SNODO book! I do get email from people asking me this very question.  Is now the right time to become a coder, or should I wait?  Th...

I am that geek who asks for copies of my operative reports.  My doctors usually look at me a little weird and tell me how boring they are, but nonetheless, I collect operative reports.  I have certain friends, family, and coworkers who have joined the cause and will ask for copies of the report for whatever procedure they had done recently.  In fact, I recently acquired a tonsillectomy. While this may seem to be a rather strange collection, for me it's purely educational.  I like to teach from real operative reports, so I collect them and use them in training materials.  A couple of weeks ago, I dusted off one of my previous procedure reports in preparation for ICD-10-PCS training.  It was for a septoplasty and turbinate reduction after what one of my doctor's not-so-lovingly referred to my as my "100-day cold."  When I finally saw a specialist, she determined that I had trouble due to a deviated septum, which was caused by an old fracture - probably d...