remote medical coding

[Spracne]

to clarify F#, its used in a lot of very computer intensive applications, like lots of math and junk.  i guess ricky d decided against it tho 

You mean Gb, dumbass?? 

[The Big Train]

to clarify F#, its used in a lot of very computer intensive applications, like lots of math and junk.  i guess ricky d decided against it tho 

You mean Gb, dumbass?? 

 

[Dub]

Medical coding is converting the name of a diagnosis or treatment to a set of digits and letters according to ICD-10 (formerly 9).  It's basically a way of communicating to insurance computers your diagnosis, treatment, etc for billing.  Instead of writing fracture of the left ulna due to fall it would be a set of 7 digits now, used to be 5.  And if surgery is required, a separate code for that surgery is included. 

Medical coding companies are basically looking at patient notes from the dr and looking up the code for their diagnosis.  Big clinics/lazy dr fix.  It is becoming obsolete because EHR systems have lookup options and digital billing systems that are taking away from medical billing companies

[Panjandrum]

2 things:

1) ICD-10 is much, much harder than ICD-9 was.  I've coded in both and have taken classes in both.  Eventually, coding in ICD-10 will be old hat, but...

2) If you ultimately play out where the industry is going in this regard, ICD-10 will eventually become ICD-11, and ICD-11 will become SNOMED CT.  SNOMED CT is the most comprehensive data set that will help medicine as it transitions more into population health capitation reimbursement vs. the fee for service model that we use today.  The rub is that to be able "code" in SNOMED, the computer has to do the majority of the work.

I was at a conference a couple of years ago where one of the featured speakers was discussing this topic and the fact that medical coders will ultimately be needed for several more years, but it's probably not a good gig for younger folks to get into because "coders" will ultimately really move upstream in the process and become clinical documentation specialists that work with physicians prior to discharge to ensure clean documentation for electronic processing for SNOMED CT.

I could probably geek out on this topic way beyond this, but suffice it to say, it may be a decent side gig if you get credentialed and become a per diem remote coder that gets paid a flat rate for a day's work, regardless of volume, and you stumble into a specialty that may have a low volume at that site.

I will say that the market, as of today, is in the middle of a bubble because folks ramped up heavy demand for ICD-10 augmented services, and when that levels off a bit, there's going to be a lot of coders floating around in the market place looking for contracts.  You can probably start your own LLC, but there are a number of existing companies out there today that have these coders under contract, and their booking, billing, etc. operations are pretty easy to deal with, and their coders are already well versed in how to use most of the major systems (i.e. Cerner, Epic, Allscripts, AthenaHealth, Meditech, etc.).  Your LLC would struggle because while you would know how to code, your productivity numbers would suffer because you probably don't have folks that will know how to navigate the existing EMR system to find all of the necessary documentation and orders needed to code.

[star seed 7]

I think that's what the class is for

[Panjandrum]

And while most of you are being flippant, if you can create a computer assisted coding NLP engine that actually does a decent job at converting clinical documentation to ICD-10, while also applying the necessary coding logic required to submit clean codes and charges to a billing system in the inpatient, acute outpatient, observation, and ambulatory settings, that will prevent claim denials, reduce A/R days and cost to collect, and increase cash flow to organizations, you will make billions. 

No, I'm not kidding.  If you showed that to every hospital in America, it would be akin to Elon Musk talking about putting solar panels on everyone's house.

It's the holy grail.

[Panjandrum]

I think that's what the class is for

You will go to the class and they will give you documents to read and case studies to prove you understand the syntax.

There is a difference between knowing how the syntax works vs. how to navigate an EMR (or multiple EMR's) to find the data you need to code.  That, most times, is harder than the coding itself.

[star seed 7]

The script will do that part, are you even reading the thread

[Tobias]

i swear to god if cerner tries rough ridin' with us heads will roll

[Panjandrum]

i swear to god if cerner tries rough ridin' with us heads will roll

I love Tobias.   

[Dr Rick Daris]

2 things:

1) ICD-10 is much, much harder than ICD-9 was.  I've coded in both and have taken classes in both.  Eventually, coding in ICD-10 will be old hat, but...

2) If you ultimately play out where the industry is going in this regard, ICD-10 will eventually become ICD-11, and ICD-11 will become SNOMED CT.  SNOMED CT is the most comprehensive data set that will help medicine as it transitions more into population health capitation reimbursement vs. the fee for service model that we use today.  The rub is that to be able "code" in SNOMED, the computer has to do the majority of the work.

I was at a conference a couple of years ago where one of the featured speakers was discussing this topic and the fact that medical coders will ultimately be needed for several more years, but it's probably not a good gig for younger folks to get into because "coders" will ultimately really move upstream in the process and become clinical documentation specialists that work with physicians prior to discharge to ensure clean documentation for electronic processing for SNOMED CT.

I could probably geek out on this topic way beyond this, but suffice it to say, it may be a decent side gig if you get credentialed and become a per diem remote coder that gets paid a flat rate for a day's work, regardless of volume, and you stumble into a specialty that may have a low volume at that site.

I will say that the market, as of today, is in the middle of a bubble because folks ramped up heavy demand for ICD-10 augmented services, and when that levels off a bit, there's going to be a lot of coders floating around in the market place looking for contracts.  You can probably start your own LLC, but there are a number of existing companies out there today that have these coders under contract, and their booking, billing, etc. operations are pretty easy to deal with, and their coders are already well versed in how to use most of the major systems (i.e. Cerner, Epic, Allscripts, AthenaHealth, Meditech, etc.).  Your LLC would struggle because while you would know how to code, your productivity numbers would suffer because you probably don't have folks that will know how to navigate the existing EMR system to find all of the necessary documentation and orders needed to code.

A couple of things...

1) I think you missed the part of my post where I said this would be a work hobby. Like, I'm bored at work and this will give me something to do. I don't care about long term career feasibility.
2) I know next to nothing about icd9 so who cares about this icd10 thing? Different? Slightly. Harder? Maybe. Either way, who cares? It's just a work hobby.
3) I think getting access to and poking around different emr systems would be one of fun.
4) the whole llc thing was just a way to divide money for hours worked. We aren't going out and attempting to drum up business.
5) do you want to join in? Realistically, Lib7 and I probably need one more body to actually pull this thing off.

[ChiComCat]

I just got back from my honeymoon in Jamaica and the whole time I was thinking why the hell don't I have a remote job that brings in 50k and live like a king here.  Of course, like clock work, rowdy boy has the whole damn thing figured out by the time I return.