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Help!!!!new coding department

R

rcbaker

Networker
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70
Location
Houston, TX
I have been hire to put together a coding department for a billing company that has several hospitals. specialties area ortho,spinal,biatric,pain management. Any suggestions on my first step and what are some resources i should have immediately. Thanks for any feedback
 
If it were me, my first question would be to ask the billing company what exactly they were looking for....charge capture, straight diagnosis coding, auditing, surgical coding, claims submission, A/R analysis, provider education......then I would think about job descriptions and staffing to meet the needs based on the volume of providers and their expected turnaround time.

Do you have IT resources? research resources (coding books, online resources?). What software are they using and do you need to train people? What reports do they want from you? Be thinking about what their needs are from every angle...logistics, staffing, financial, policy/procedure, so that you can make sure you have exactly what you need right from the beginning.

Good luck!
 
For Neurosurgery coding I would highly reccomend the Ingenix coding companion. I use this book daily, it is a great resource. It gives coding tips, RVU's, CCI edits and pictures and detailed descriptions of each procedure. If the Ingenix coding companion for Neurosurgery/Neurology is a great resource, there coding companions for other specialties would probably be a great help too. Good Luck!
 
help!! new coding department

rcbaker said:
I have been hire to put together a coding department for a billing company that has several hospitals. specialties area ortho,spinal,biatric,pain management. Any suggestions on my first step and what are some resources i should have immediately. Thanks for any feedback
Click to expand...

My two cents:

I have owned and worked for a number of billing services and the first step is to find out what the contract states and more specifically what it means to put together a coding department. Does it mean charge capture? Charge entry? Coding consultations? Are you uploading files to your database? There are tons of things that need to be considered before just putting together an entire department. I would ask for more guidance from the billing company before tackling this project.
 
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