General surgery office manager jokingly said that he stuck to his first part-time medical billing customer service job as it paid more than fast food. This is how he ended up being where he's today.
Lamm started medical billing customer service as a part-time job and now it's his profession. Today Lamm is Office Manager in Massillon,Ohio for Stark County Surgeons, Inc. He not only takes care of the daily running of the office, but also does payroll, auditing, computer support, insurance verification, payment posting, and steps in to code any unusual surgery.
Lamm's advice to new coders and billers
"First of all, you must be well-versed with medical terminology. There is just no way besides that. You should know your -otomies from your -ectomies, lateral from medial, and distal from proximal. Then you must fully understand the basic human anatomy and the prefixes and suffixes that'll guide you."
"After these basics are in your blood, you need to be organized!" Lamm emphasizes. He suggests that you start your own coding directory.
"Making your way through a pile of papers searching for the notes you made previously might do the trick for you, but it can just be a sheer wastage of time as there's no assurance that you will find what you're looking for. Even if you find out there is no way to know that, you will understand the disorganized fragments of sentences." Lamm construes.
Many a time Lamm notices someone learn some new information just long enough to get a task done; and then that information is entirely lost the following day. He says that it makes absolutely no sense.
He continues, "If you have put loads of efforts into coding a complex surgery, write it down and keep it neatly organized at one place."
Correct way to organize: Lamm participates in online discussion groups to learn his stuff and learn from other talented coders. One day there was a discussion about hemorrhoidectomies; when he pulled out his CPT book, he found that there were 16 distinct codes for the treatment of this problem, scattered over 3 pages. He organized them on one sheet with clear meaning of each code and also noted references to other sources for future use.
As coding is very complex and involves enormous amount of information that one cannot remember on his own. It is advisable to keep the information organized and up-to-date and never lose it so that you can do your job accurately.
Learn more from Joseph Lamm in future posts on My Coding Career.