Wiki Coding company vs health system

[Coder90]

I have experience working for both a coding company and a physicians practice.

I didn't have a great time working at the coding company, but it may have been because of the project I was assigned.

I'm doing better at the physicians practice though I was lucky to get the job.

For more experienced coders, in your opinion is it better to work for a coding company or a health system?

I wouldn't mind hearing about your opinion on contract coding too.

Thank you!

 

[Orthocoderpgu]

Not all companies are the same. You may enjoy working for some more than others. It depends on if they get to know you, or if they are so big that you are just a number and they just want you to work whatever they send your way. I have never worked for a coding company however there was a local coding company that was hiring, so I went to their office twice. I was extremely good in the field that they needed. While I was there they never let me speak to the coding manager of the specialty that I was applying for and I never received any call back. It became clear to me that they wanted to hire someone out of state that could not walk into their office. Another coder that I know applied there years later and walked out of their office laughing. Their production standard for the type of surgeries that she coded was too high. It was her opinion that the company did not care about accuracy, just numbers. In her opinion there was no way to meet the production goal if you actually read the op note. She thinks that the coders are coding from the "Post-op Diagnosis and Procedures Performed" listed and not reading the op to see if it was actually accurate or not.

 

[jimbo1231]

In a long career I've worked for both sides of the employment fence. As Orthocoderguru mentioned, coding companies can have unrealistic production demands. They will claim that their edits or claim scrubbers are so good that you can increase production. But that often isn't true. Also you want to be certian that the coding/billing company is stable. Many companies have been bought and sold several times which can create chaos for employees. And coding/billing companies are more prone to off shore which can cost jobs. I will say one up side is that for an ambitious person, there can be opportunities to move ahead in these companies. Hospitals and healthcare systems and usually physician practices have some drawbacks but overall there is more stability and realistic expectations. Jim

 

[csperoni]

To me, this is almost like a question - Which is better: a fruit or a vegetable?
Well, it depends on the fruit and/or vegetable. And most importantly, your personal taste.
Overall, it is more common for coding companies to work as a machine and you are simply coder 394036. But not all coding companies work this way.
I personally prefer to work and become an expert in a particular specialty and work with the same clinicians to develop a rapport. I also enjoy doing work that is not solely coding related. This is easiest to do working for a practice and/or healthcare system vs. coding company. Sometimes I code outpatient E/M. Sometimes I train new hires. Sometimes I analyze reports. Sometimes I appeal coding related denials. Sometimes I audit my staff's coding. Sometimes I educate the scribes and clinicians about documentation. Sometimes I code surgery. Sometimes I deal with insurance credentialing. That's all in the same week.
I would never want a job where I am coding 20 different specialties for 50 different clinicians in a month, and am expected to code 200 lines per day. Others might thrive on that.
It is more difficult to move up within a private practice. If the practice is 2 clinicians, there is not a team of coders and you could not become a coding supervisor.