ICD-10 – Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down? The transition to ICD-10 codes shook up the whole medical coding industry, ushering in an even higher demand for skilled medical coders.
So what does this new medical coding world look like for new or future professionals? Here are some pros and cons to jumping into the current field of medical coding. CONS So many new codes to learn ICD-10 is much more detailed than ICD-9. (ICD-10 has more than 69,000 codes while ICD-9 had about 13,000 codes.) That’s a lot to be familiar with, making a quality training program essential. PROS Opportunity to learn What an exciting opportunity to learn new things and evolve the medical coding profession! Since the need is so great, if you have prior experience in the field, you can expect your paycheck to increase. How to ensure quality patient care as a Pharmacy Technician? Unsurprisingly, most people enter healthcare careers because they want to help people, and a career as a pharmacy technician also gives you that chance.
As a pharmacy tech, it’s important to know how you can assist on a patient’s road to recovery. Here’s how to improve your counter-side manner and help in the healing process. First impressions matter Pharmacy techs are the face of the pharmacy. You represent yourself, your employer, and the patient’s healthcare experience, so be sure to make a positive first impression; it may determine whether or not the individual returns. Always act and look professional, which includes smiling, wearing your ID, dressing appropriately, and maintaining personal hygiene. Pharmacy techs do much more than measure medicine: you provide patient care and play a crucial role in the healthcare system. The encouraging future of medical transcription. Every year Americans go to the doctor more than 928.6 million times.
That’s miles of cough-filled waiting rooms and a mountain of physician notes. Lucky for you, that also means nearly 1 billion opportunities for medical transcription, the process of converting doctor dictations into accurate patient records. Here’s a little history on the medical transcription industry and how it has evolved through the years to stay relevant in our tech-filled healthcare age. Evolution of Tools: Dictation to Speech Recognition The medical transcription job description of the 1960s hardly resembles the advanced medical transcription job descriptions we see today.
At its inception in the 60s, medical transcription was simply legibly copying physician notes into patient records by hand or even taking notes as a physician hurriedly described his last appointment. A job that at first anyone with a pen could perform has now become one requiring formal, standardized training. 5 Rewarding Careers in Healthcare You Might Have Overlooked. Healthcare career opportunities are growing faster than opportunities in almost any other industry, and not all of them demand a tolerance for blood and needles.
Interested in healthcare but not sure where to start? Check out these 5 overlooked but highly rewarding careers. Medical Transcriptionist As a medical transcriptionist, you transcribe doctors’ audio recordings into patients’ formal medical reports. This task helps the health administration side of healthcare run smoothly and ensures that patients have up-to-date medical histories. Pay: Most medical transcriptionists are paid on production, so the more you work the more you make.
Perks: The majority of medical transcriptionists work from home on flexible schedules, meaning no commute, no daycare costs, and the flexibility to work just about anywhere. Dietitian Dietitians study the science of food, nutrition, and the body and prescribe the appropriate diet for people based on their health needs or goals. Punctuation Remedies for Medical Transcriptionists. When it comes to medical transcription and editing, laboratory data has been found to cause side effects similar to those of some medications: anxiety, hair loss, difficulty sleeping, and irritability, just to name a few.
These side effects often start when a student has compared the key of one report in which the labs have been separated by commas and then compares the key of another report in which the labs have been separated by groups—a comma here, a period there, seemingly willy-nilly. Oh, the frustration! The Book of Style for Medical Transcription, 3rd Edition suggests MTs “use commas to separate values of a single panel or test” and “use periods to separate values of unrelated…tests.” When just starting out, this may seem easy enough. Short laboratory sections in simple clinic notes might include WBC, RBC, H&H, and a negative UA. How to Maintain Your CPC or CCA certification. Now that you have your CPC or CCA certification under your belt, what is required to maintain your credential?
The answer is to maintain your membership with the certifying organization and complete the required continuing education units (or CEUs). Each organization has different requirements to maintain your certification so you never have to take that CPC or CCA exam again. CCA Credential from AHIMAFees – $185 + $50 yearly Number of CEUs needed – 20 CEUs every 2 years The initial recertification cycle for newly credentialed CCAs begins the day after the credential is awarded and runs through the following 2 years as well.
So for example: if you obtained your CCA on 6/8/15, you’re cycle would include all of the remainder of 2015 plus the standard 1/1/2016-12/31/2017 calendar year cycle. Stay competitive as a medical coder and biller in today’s changing landscape. Medical coding and billing careers are on the rise: the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects a steady growth rate of 22% through 2022, a rate significantly above average.
Of course, success in any career is largely dependent on your skills, so make sure you properly hone yours through a quality education and certification program.