Mandy's Blog

School, yet again

January 9th, 2006 at 12:02 AM (School)

Tomorrow is my first day back to school after a nice long winter break. My program has a pretty cool feature, there’s only 20 of us. There used to be 23, but 3 dropped from the program. I’m anxious to get back to school and actually have work to do. I hate just sitting on my butt all day, it’s nice, but I feel like a slug.This semester is going to be harder than last. I have less classes, thank g-d, but I have more intense classes, including coding. For those not familiar with the Health care field, coding can be extermely difficult. Every time you go to a doctor, or have a medical procedure, there is someone behind the scenes coding your medical charts and claims so they can be sent out to the insurance company and be paid appropriately. Think of coding as a numerical medical language that is used to communicate between doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies. The mistake of one number can mean big trouble, most insurance companies pay depending on what codes are submitted. Not only do you have to have the proper codes, but you need to make sure you have the proper medical documentation to back it up, in case the insurance company does not believe you. In essence, treating patients and billing for patient care is hard, complicated, and can leave you in a lot of legal trouble if not careful.

Anyways, I’m a little nervous because we have technical affiliations this semester. Basically, every Friday, us students go out to different hopsitals around the city and get hands on experience in the health information management field. I have Loyola hospital, which I am extactic about. I’m nervous, though, because it will be only me. No other students will be there with me and I’ll be working with actual patient charts.

WISH ME LUCK!