How to Get Started in a Medical Coding Career

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Code for the Day - Say Goodbye to the Old Coder Coach

This has been a busy couple of weeks.  I've been able to visit with a lot of people I rarely get to see.  Old friends at a high school reunion.  My brother.  And one of my nearest and dearest BFFs.  A BFF with a marketing degree and a brilliant personal blog.  The same BFF who inspired me to start blogging in the first place. So as we caught up over dinner tonight, the conversation covered everything from work to personal relationships to her beautiful daughters - and our blogs.  And she offered to rehab my blog for me.  As I watched her work over the Coder Coach blog, I realized the format was old and dying.  And once again I took to my code book.  Voila... Today's code for the day: R54 Age-related debility That was the old blog.  And what do you think of the new one? As I learn a few new tricks, I hope you enjoy the enhancements to this site.  Soon I will be adding resource links for all the coder wanna-bes out there as well ...
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Code for the Day: Culture Shock F43.23

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How I spent my summer vacation... Today is my first day back at work after vacation.  Yay.  As you can probably tell from my previous blog postings, I love my job.  But I also love sandy beaches, exploring new areas, sunsets over the Pacific Ocean, and just generally goofing off with no specific agenda. I spent the first few days of my vacation working my little tail off around the house and getting ready for the payoff: 4 days on Oregon's northern coast.  Our trip involved a very scenic tour of Astoria and surrounding areas and, as you can see from my little photo montage here, it was simply breathtaking.  We visited 2 beaches, hiked, visited 2 lighthouses (saw a third from afar), hiked, watched the seals, hiked, visited filming locations for three movies, and hiked some more (and yes, that is a shipwreck you see in the bottom right picture!). But now I am back in Denver where it's hot and dry instead of cool and comfortably damp.  Colorado is a beautiful ...
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Code for the Day: Is Now a Good Time for a Z56.1 (Change of job)?

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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...
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