If one of your New Year resolutions is to see the CPC-H tag to your name, here are some help from a man who took and passed the CPC-H exam.
Manas Maity of Supercoder.com had worked mostly in physician coding before he decided to sit for his CPC-H last year. He tells My Coding Career that the exam tested his ICD-9 coding know how more than he expected. (Although he adds that the exam's HCPCS and CPT coding questions were pretty much what he expected).
To get the better of the diagnosis coding questions, reap the benefits of 'open book' and pay attention to notations like 'includes', 'excludes', 'use additional code' and 'code first conditions', he advises. You should also pay attention to the 4th- and 5th-digit-required notations. Minding your fourth and fifth digits is tougher in some of this year's ICD-9 books, which make use of color highlighting instead of marginal notations, says Maity.
What's more, you should never code from the alphabetic index. Some exam questions are written to catch you trying to take this ill-advised shortcut, which can lead to incorrect coding.
During your study hours, review diagnosis coding rules and practice coding conditions such as burns, septicemia, diabetes, and some cardiovascular disorders, some of which are likely to feature on the exam.
Lastly, Maity asks test takers to brush up on Medicare terms, acronyms and rules like ABN, the Stark law, OPPS, CLIA, the birthday rule, MSP, Black Lung, COBRA, and some which he had never heard of.
If you're feeling a little rusty on Medicare trivia yourself, tune in to My Coding Career for our Medicare Mumbo Jumbo Quick Start Guide and prepare yourself with tools you need to answer the exam's compliance and regulatory questions.