Wiki job duties

[vjst222]

This might be a weird and stupid question but as a CPC what should my basic job responsibilities be? There is some tension here between Hospital coders and us.
Hospital Coders get paid more than we do , but yet we went to school 2 years, took a cert exam, keep up with CEUS, and do a lot of work:

We all work for 1 hospital

I code office visits for 8 physicians 3 are surgeons
I code for 4 different specialties
professional services for outpt and inpt billing when my doctors do rounds
nursing home charges
professional service surgeries

Since I code surgeries could I be considered an OUTPT coder?

I guess I get confused where the line is drawn.

 

[Pam Warren]

Job descriptions are only as good as the person who wrote them, and salary can sometimes be arbitrary.

In my organization, inpatient coders and Physician Coder/Auditors earn the highest salaries. Next come our outpatient facility coders along with physician specialty coders. Our primary care and outpatient diagnostic coders earn less, since they tend to be entry level staff. Based on what you tell me, you're a physician coder, who can code surgical specialties. In this organization you'd be in the same job classification as an outpatient coder---but not all organizations have the same job classification and pay structure, so I can't comment on how that's designed where you work. Other considerations apply also....time on the job and other experience, credentials held, job performance, etc.

I manage the inpatient, outpatient and physician coders under one department. In no way will I tolerate any 'us vs. them' mentality, and often use coders from Physician coding to fill in for outpatient coders (and vice-versa). Cross training makes a coder extremely valuable. I'd check to see if you can job shadow or cross train at your organization to show that you're not only interested, but willing to be versatile. I'd talk to your coding manager about the animosity that you're seeing, because it can make for a toxic working environment. As organizations move and merge to become integrated healthcare systems, there will eventually be only 'coding departments', and the division between the two kinds of work will evaporarate. Good luck and hopefully things will improve for you.