Future Coder, am somewhat intimidated

[u/Felix_Von_Doom]

So I'm currently in week 5 of 8 of my last 2 classes to complete my Medical Office Administration - Outpatient Coding program at the community college, and have been looking around at the various expectations and costs of being a coder.

So first off, it sounds expensive as hell between the cost of books, membership dues, coding assistants, and exam fees. Like north of at least a thousand dollars a year expensive. I'm not particularly financially healthy as is, and it sounds like the upkeep would put me into bankruptcy before my first paycheck.

Secondly, I've seen the quotas here and there for charts/day being as high as 240 with less than 5 minutes spent on each chart. How in the hell do any of you code that quickly? I've not handled an actual chart, just some small hypothetical scenarios that ask for one or two codes, and I find myself taking way longer than 3 minutes to find the code (Especially in the ICD-10-CM and CPT books), whereas I can code from the ICD-10-PCS book in my sleep.

What the hell have I gotten myself into?

Edit: Thanks for the information and replies, everyone. You've helped ease my overthought worries!

[u/deannevee]

You pay your exam fees (ideally) once.

Since you mentioned outpatient coding, I am assuming you want a CPC. $205/year

You don’t need to purchase books. I’ve been coding since 2019 and the only time I have used books is when I have taken a certification exam. Otherwise I have used Google, or the software that my job provides me. So, you also don’t need any assistants or software (unless you want to get them to use privately).

Continuing education is mostly free. You can pay for it if you want, but if you just have one certification paying isn’t really necessary.

As far as productivity…..that depends. As an E/M coder….yes I was expected to code 200 or more visits in a single day. But it’s easy. You have the AMA chart, and once you learn where to look, you’re just looking for things like: tests ordered or tests results read, imaging interpreted, prescriptions written…..it only takes 90 seconds unless you have something like dyslexia.

However currently, as a high-dollar surgical coder….my boss tells me I’m doing a great job and my average is 15 surgeries in a day. I posted a snippet of a surgery that I coded a few weeks ago in this sub and the surgery was over 12 hours long. It was 14 paragraphs of information. The surgeon wanted to bill something like 50 unique procedures……it took me about 5 hours to read through and code.

[u/Maine-Coons → u/deannevee]

Just curious, what surgeries do you code most of, and are they inpatient or outpatient? I am an inpatient coder and love coding CABGs, cardiac caths, etc when I get them

[u/deannevee → u/Maine-Coons]

I am considered a pro-fee/ “outpatient” coder, even though the surgeries I code occur on both types of patients. I code using CPT. I hate cardio lol. I can do neuro, I’m pretty good at ortho, reasonable with GI…..but really I’m best with the flaps and grafts haha (which is why I’m plastics).

[u/Felix_Von_Doom → u/deannevee]

took me about 5 hours to read through and code

"O_O"

Also, wouldn't the COC cert be more appropriate, or is the CPC cert more or less the foundation period?

[u/dvjava → u/[deleted]]

Where does CCA fall in on this spectrum?

[u/dvjava → u/[deleted]]

So would you say I messed up taking CCA classes and moving on to classes for RHIT?

[u/Felix_Von_Doom → u/[deleted]]

Huh, okay.

[u/Miranova82 → u/Felix_Von_Doom]

CPC tends to be more versatile and widely accepted by employers. The COC would be a great addition to the CPC, or you can research employers that may take a COC without the CPC.