Rose works as a receptionist at a hospital that houses four family doctors and a physician’s assistant. She manages all the medical billing and coding required in the office, which requires her to coordinate with patients, insurance providers and other professionals in medical careers to bill the proper parties accurately and efficiently.
Rose got training in medical coding, a standard technique of identifying procedures, diagnoses, and the varieties of visits on patient charts. When new legislation got approval, since then required doctor’s offices and hospitals to preserve their patient records electronically. Rose worked with one of the physicians to select a medical database method that would work best for their office. She welcomed the excuse to computerize all the information because it made getting information about patient visits from her colleagues easier. Now she just needs to give email to the medical assistants and request them to fill in the medical coding fields in the database that they are ready for filling. The doctors in her hospital have established everyday jobs associated with medical billing and coding as a main concern, for it is only when Rose has all the data that she can bill patients and their insurance companies.
Certain procedures that the clinic does on a day to day basis are often not covered by insurance providers, and she knows the ins and outs of the key insurance providers that she often works with in her medical billing and coding processes. If in doubt, she will call a patient’s insurance provider earlier than the time of the visit to make sure a procedure is covered. The clinic works with patients who don’t have insurance until they make usual payments. If they don’t, she will send them to collections, which she sometimes does as a last option.
However, in association with medical billing and coding, Rose controls all the HIPAA requirements for the medical institution. She makes sure all the hospital’s active patients sign the HIPAA information and revelation form each year. She also expertly manages any requests for patient charts, as there is a unique procedure every patient need to follow – both for providing charts of their patients to other physicians, as well as getting patient charts from other physicians.
Rose earned her associate’s degree as a health care supervisor years ago, but she has maintained her certification that involves passing a test. Sometimes, doctors pay for her so that she could attend the updated certification exam. She received computer training. For example, when they got their new medical database system installed, and once she got fully trained, she was able to show all her coworkers how to use that software, as well.
Medical coding, like every accounts payable system, is a crucial part of the clinic where she works. So she effectively and efficiently manages the documentation which is vital for receiving of the funds that fill the payroll and compensate for the other bills. She knows professionals in other medical jobs. She tries to manage a good communication with those personnel so that she could work consistently and accurately. The hospital’s patients also rely on her, when possible; to make sure the processes or services physicians perform are covered by insurance.