The Importance of Coding Your Medical Visit
I have worked in the medical field for 41 years. The first 38 years was as a Certified Surgical Technologist in the operating room. I decided to change careers and went back to school to get my certification in Medical Coding and Billing. As a CRC (Certified Risk Adjustment Coder), my job is to know and assign specific medical condition diagnoses to an alpha-numerical sequence for the billing process. I also have a knowledge base in Risk Adjustment coding, which is a modern methodology that accounts for known and discovered health data elements that are used to compare wellness among patients. CRC’s also review medical chart notes for Medicare patients’ Annual Wellness Visits to look for diagnosis codes and conditions that have been assigned a HCC or Hierarchical Condition Category. For example, Diabetes is one of thousands of codes that are in this category. Assigning these special codes gives Medicare and other insurance carriers the ability to identify and compare the health of individuals in various demographic categories. From my first day at Grants Pass Clinic, I was impressed with the care and compassion our providers and staff show to our patients. I love my work as it is both challenging and rewarding.
Jolene Lefeber, CRC