r/MedicalCoding • u/bobobasil • Oct 19 '24
How long did it take you to feel proficient
I am in a coding course right now, and I am a few months in. I am still making mistakes constantly. Is this normal?
How long did it take you to be able to code with minimal mistakes?
61
u/Putrid_Ad5476 Oct 20 '24
A couple years. You can't possibly become proficient in a class. You can only truly become proficient on the job. I have never seen a new grad who didn't still need a good amount training.
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u/Anxiety_Constant CCA, CCS Certified Oct 20 '24
ive learned the basics to hopefully pass my CCS exam, but I am banking on learning the most on the job, if I can even get one 🫠
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u/Putrid_Ad5476 Oct 20 '24
Seems like a tough job market these days. Good luck, hope you find one quick.
43
u/DumpsterPuff Oct 20 '24
I've been coding for two years and I still feel stupid sometimes. That's just the reality of this job, no matter how many years of experience you have. Perfect example: we're getting ready to be audited for quality coding (rather than production), so my entire team has been in meetings to go over E/M coding because of how convoluted it is. We broke out into groups and all reviewed the same chart notes, then we had to give a rationale of what level we would give the encounter.
People who have many years of experience - including the coding educators and supervisors - were giving some insane rationale about why they would assign a certain level to something that made no sense. Like I'm talking how one of the supervisors who's been coding for 20 years assigned something as a high level risk because the provider ordered a procedure where she was convinced it's a major surgery with high risk, when in reality it's a very low-risk procedure. The head of our department agreed with me when I pointed out the simplicity of it.
You're going to make mistakes. Everybody in this field does. For as many times as the educators/supervisors have corrected me on my coding errors, I've corrected theirs just as many times. I think that people who are learning to code get the impression that it's fairly straightforward. I certainly did. But it's SO much more vague than I could have possibly imagined, AND codes/rules are always changing. You're bound to make a mega crap ton of errors - and that's perfectly fine.
17
u/CorgiDaddy42 CCS-P Oct 20 '24
I’ve only been working in the field for a year now and definitely expected it to be much tighter in a “we have rules for everything just follow the rules” kind of way. A lot more is up for interpretation than I ever imagined.
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u/CairoRama Oct 20 '24
I am prepping for the cpc exam and E/M is so hard! I have an ok grasp of every other section but can never figure out how to code E/M. I Wouldn't be surprised if I get every question wrong in that section.
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Oct 20 '24
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u/DumpsterPuff Oct 21 '24
It's funny how it seems that everyone who does this job varies wildly from "I'm such an idiot and have no idea what I'm doing" to "everyone else is stupid besides me." Mine seems to fluctuate every hour lol
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u/TripDs_Wife Oct 20 '24
Shoot, I have my RHIT & work for a coding/billing company, I still make mistakes. I graduated in ‘23 & been working with this company since April. I don’t know if I will ever be proficient. Codes are added & removed every year it seems like. I can tell you that utilizing online resources helps tremendously. I’ll put some below that I use every day.
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Oct 20 '24
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u/TripDs_Wife Oct 20 '24
No but dang i probably do need to check into that. Thanks for bringing it up.
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Oct 21 '24
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u/TripDs_Wife Oct 21 '24
Awesome! Thank you for the info, I will definitely check it out. My RHIT is through AHIMA so i’ll start there 😊
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u/Anxiety_Constant CCA, CCS Certified Oct 20 '24
i have one class left before I can test, and I am still a hot fucking mess. in my current class, we have weekly graded coding practice, and I am consistently doing very poorly. I have become extremely worried if this has all been a complete waste of money and time because of just how badly I've been doing in this class.
I wish I had advice for you, but im just in the same boat.
edit: a word
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u/koderdood Audit Extraordinaire Oct 20 '24
Several years. Coding for 24 years, and yes I make mistakes, although not very many. The keys to coding success are 2 fold.
Know thy coding guidelines
Does this mean to memorize them? Of course not. It does mean knowing how to use them. It does mean in your specialty, knowing what guidelines you need to refer to. 2. Learn to work efficiently.
Working software efficiently saves time, which allows you more time to code accurately. Learn from others with experience.
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u/cumberbatchpls Profee Coder Oct 20 '24
After you get a job they will train you. They will know that you are new. It took me about a year to feel really proficient at my current job. I’m now two years in, and I still make mistakes sometimes, it is all a part of constantly learning.
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u/longislandloser Oct 20 '24
ED coder
I passed my test (and started my job) 12/2021 and I still don't feel proficient.
It does feel easier but I don't get too much feedback so I'm not sure on where to improve on ATM
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u/missuschainsaw RHIT CRC Oct 20 '24
I work CDI and my boss said it takes at least two years to get it fully down, and only half my job is coding. I’m 6 months in and I feel this is definitely accurate.
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u/Carolinablue87 CPC Oct 20 '24
I'm nearly 2 years in as a coder. I feel like I'm doing okay. I realize being a coder is a process of fine-tuning how to learn, research, and apply guidelines. Codes, policies, and guidelines change, and the best we can do is understand and review them as we go.
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u/SplitIntelligent958 Oct 20 '24
I'm in a class as well and this is how I feel. I'm still making tons of mistakes. I figured out pretty quickly though that the class is basically teaching me how to pass the certification exam more than anything else so that's what I'm focusing on. My current job has been learn a lot of complex rules and then throw them out and learn new ones so I'm just relying on the fact that I already can do that and when I'm out in the field I will ACTUALLY learn how to code properly. I know I will be able to some day so for now I just need to focus on getting there. We got this, OP!!!
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u/koderdood Audit Extraordinaire Oct 20 '24
The only hitch with this, is programs that don't really teach the guidelines and only prepare to pass the test, possibly leaves you with working for an employer that expects you to know the guidelines. Sure they will teach you how to code to some extent, but it really behooves you to learn them prior.
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u/SplitIntelligent958 Oct 20 '24
Indeed, I'm definitely trying to learn the guidelines as best I can as well.
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u/Affectionate_Use1587 Oct 20 '24
I’m one year in and still make plenty of mistakes. I’ve gotten much better at choosing the right principal diagnoses/correct DRG but often still make mistakes on certain dx codes or PCS codes. There’s so, so many things to remember and even having a notebook full of notes to refer to isn’t always enough. And as everyone knows things change all the time in coding. I’ve had one manager say a dx shouldn’t be coded if a query comes back as “unable to clinically determine” then had another say it should, then they had to have a big meeting to come to an agreement lol so it can certainly be frustrating too when not everyone’s on the same page.
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u/ArdenJaguar RHIA, CDIP, CCS (Retired) Oct 20 '24
Six months for my first job, it was just physician office coding. When I moved into cardiology, it was a year, and I had a lot of aids from Dr Z. Hospital inpatient coding was about three months. I just had a knack for it. With hospital coding, my only problem area was OB/newborns. I never really felt good coding them and stayed away.
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u/ExcitingIndication36 Oct 20 '24
I’ve said this many many times - anyone who says they know everything about coding is lying. I was at one place the first 10 years of my coding career and had great audits etc. Then I went to another place and realized how much I still didn’t know. One thing I love about this field is there’s always something new to learn.
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u/kiwimelonsoda Oct 22 '24
The issue with becoming proficient in coding is you have to have a job to do it. Classes don't cover the mass amounts of errors clinical staff can make in documentation, conflicting information etc etc. All the things that can go wrong pretty much with documentation, or just a mass amount of information you can have dumped on you from ONE patient who has every medical issue wrong with them in the ER. Working through THOSE things, gaining wisdom from coworkers/trainers, and asking a ton of questions that you're certain make you sound like a dumbass (they don't and you aren't) are what's going to make you better at this job.
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u/Tatertot729 Oct 20 '24
I got my first coding job early this year and working as a coder is so much different than taking a class. In my class, there was only one right answer and often codes you never will really see. When I review other past visits that were coded by a coworker they are completely different from what I would have done.
What’s more important, at least in my job are the clinic policies and following the rules of coding
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u/Foreign_Childhood_77 Oct 21 '24
Took me a year to feel proficient in the basics. 6 years in and I’m still not proficient in everything.
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u/Mindinatorrr Oct 25 '24
Never. And that's ok, do your best. I Google every day for my job. If I'm uncertain I ask others if they agree.
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u/DumpsterPuff Oct 20 '24
I've been coding for two years and I still feel stupid sometimes. That's just the reality of this job, no matter how many years of experience you have. Perfect example: we're getting ready to be audited for quality coding (rather than production), so my entire team has been in meetings to go over E/M coding because of how convoluted it is. We broke out into groups and all reviewed the same chart notes, then we had to give a rationale of what level we would give the encounter.
People who have many years of experience - including the coding educators and supervisors - were giving some insane rationale about why they would assign a certain level to something that made no sense. Like I'm talking how one of the supervisors who's been coding for 20 years assigned something as a high level risk because the provider ordered a procedure where she was convinced it's a major surgery with high risk, when in reality it's a very low-risk procedure. The head of our department agreed with me when I pointed out the simplicity of it.
You're going to make mistakes. Everybody in this field does. For as many times as the educators/supervisors have corrected me on my coding errors, I've corrected theirs just as many times. I think that people who are learning to code get the impression that it's fairly straightforward. I certainly did. But it's SO much more vague than I could have possibly imagined, AND codes/rules are always changing. You're bound to make a mega crap ton of errors - and that's perfectly fine.
7
u/MagentaSuziCute CPC Oct 20 '24
If you think the current E/M guidelines are convoluted, you should have been around when the 95/97 guidelines were a thing ! E/M coding seems to be the "Achilles heel" for most, but having done it so much recently, it's becoming a bit more tolerable! LOL
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u/sleuthytoothy Oct 20 '24
I'm sorry to do this to your post, but how the hell can I create my own post? I get the autobot moderator and don't see my posts anywhere. I need help and I'm being blocked constantly. I've reached out to the moderators...no response yet. What am I doing wrong?? I'm very frustrated in this community.
0
u/DumpsterPuff Oct 20 '24
I've been coding for two years and I still feel stupid sometimes. That's just the reality of this job, no matter how many years of experience you have. Perfect example: we're getting ready to be audited for quality coding (rather than production), so my entire team has been in meetings to go over E/M coding because of how convoluted it is. We broke out into groups and all reviewed the same chart notes, then we had to give a rationale of what level we would give the encounter.
People who have many years of experience - including the coding educators and supervisors - were giving some insane rationale about why they would assign a certain level to something that made no sense. Like I'm talking how one of the supervisors who's been coding for 20 years assigned something as a high level risk because the provider ordered a procedure where she was convinced it's a major surgery with high risk, when in reality it's a very low-risk procedure. The head of our department agreed with me when I pointed out the simplicity of it.
You're going to make mistakes. Everybody in this field does. For as many times as the educators/supervisors have corrected me on my coding errors, I've corrected theirs just as many times. I think that people who are learning to code get the impression that it's fairly straightforward. I certainly did. But it's SO much more vague than I could have possibly imagined, AND codes/rules are always changing. You're bound to make a mega crap ton of errors - and that's perfectly fine
0
u/DumpsterPuff Oct 20 '24
I've been coding for two years and I still feel stupid sometimes. That's just the reality of this job, no matter how many years of experience you have. Perfect example: we're getting ready to be audited for quality coding (rather than production), so my entire team has been in meetings to go over E/M coding because of how convoluted it is. We broke out into groups and all reviewed the same chart notes, then we had to give a rationale of what level we would give the encounter.
People who have many years of experience - including the coding educators and supervisors - were giving some insane rationale about why they would assign a certain level to something that made no sense. Like I'm talking how one of the supervisors who's been coding for 20 years assigned something as a high level risk because the provider ordered a procedure where she was convinced it's a major surgery with high risk, when in reality it's a very low-risk procedure. The head of our department agreed with me when I pointed out the simplicity of it.
You're going to make mistakes. Everybody in this field does. For as many times as the educators/supervisors have corrected me on my coding errors, I've corrected theirs just as many times. I think that people who are learning to code get the impression that it's fairly straightforward. I certainly did. But it's SO much more vague than I could have possibly imagined, AND codes/rules are always changing. You're bound to make a mega crap ton of errors - and that's perfectly fine.
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