Wiki I need coders opinions???

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ivonneatanacio

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One fellow coder said to me that she went to AAOS meeting and was told that coders should not do the coding for the surgery and that the Dr should be the one coding because the Dr knows what was preformed and not the coder.

I must say! I disagree,

I have always coded from the operative report and if the Dr documented everything well, I think we are within our scope the code it.

Anyone has an opinion on this???
 
Mcfly

I know there are some docs out there who do their own coding....but that doesn't mean it is done correctly, they dont neccessarily know what is included in the code or how it is supposed to be used. If I had a nickel everytime one of my docs says he did a rotator cuff reconstruction,(2 sutures one tendon, repair) I would be retired.

Their are thouands and thousands of coders out there......so that makes me kind of think it is our job. It is very helpful to be able to talk with your doc and work out a code, I would say we all need each other.

I would suggest to your fellow coder, she is going to talk herself out of a job.
 
I'm not a certified coder (working on it) but I have always billed from the op notes. Doctors dont know coding and I have always found mistakes when they tried to do the billing.
 
I totally agree with both of you, we as the coder are familiarized with bundling, exclusions ect... We do ! Dr. do not know this aspect of coding. I think the Dr and the coder can go over the coding. If this information that was given to me was applied then we all would be out of work...
 
I also agree with coders doing the coding. The physicians know what was done and as long as the dictation is detailed we can code from operative notes; also having a good relationship with the physicians so you can query them if need be. BUT the CODING GUIDELINES/ CCI edits/ MODIFIERS, especially in trauma cases, revision cases, infections, etc..... make your head spin....58,78,79. I truly do not think they would have the time, besides, I think it is more important for them to do the surgery than code! Just my input.
 
Hi,
I too agree with the above posters...the coder are familiarized with coding rules and regulations...Doctors dont have much knowledge about the coding guidelines and all..

Nalini CPC
 
I have one doctor that does all his coding and then I check it and if find difference I take them to him and I have two other doctors that I do the coding for and then check it and if they feel differently then they put down what they think and we discuss it. They have stated to me that they do not have any idea as to what codes include what and depend on me to keep up to date. I think what is meant is that a coder should not try to just code it without input from the MD--but I agree if you can't determine what was done from the dictation that the MD needs to document better. I just have a harder time trying to figure out what they mean as they all have different ways of saying the same thing.
 
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