Q: Getting Two or More Certifications [0:27:26] Q: “After the CPC certification,
what is the next certification to strive for?”
A: That’s kind of a multilevel, let’s think about it here.
Do you have one specifically in mind?
One thing to be looking at is there a particular field you currently work in?
That’s what you want to continue and get a specific certification on that field.
Otherwise, if you don’t have anything in mind then let’s figure out what it is you
want to do.
Was there a particular section that you like and you want to learn?
Or what do you want to do with your career, what is it exciting you?
Do you belong to forums or blogs or posts where people you can ask that question of
other people?
What do they have?
What do they like best?
Do they have any openings that you know of?
If it’s a particularly difficult field to get into, how are you going to get into it?
Networking is one of the best ways to get into that field if there’s a particular
field you want to get into.
Do you attend chapter meetings if you belong to AAPC or AHIMA, do you go to your chapter
meetings?
So, ask the other people there.
Attending conferences and conventions, so AAPC does some or all of the organizations
do them.
This year, they have HealthCon on April.
There’s one in my area, Washington DC in August, and then there will be one at Disneyland.
It may not be something that you think you could get to easily especially if your employer
doesn’t pay for it.
But if it’s something you really want to go and learn and it’s a lot of CEUs, that’s
actually where I met Alicia.
I went to one and met Alicia.
Now, I’m doing more of what I wanted to be doing with my career, so looking into that.
But it also depends on your strengths.
If you’re a very detail-oriented person, the CPMA would be something good for you.
I described to a student one time as do you like the detective work?
The going back behind and looking to make sure everything was done correctly.
So, narrowing that right answer, looking for the documentation.
Another part of CPMA is education.
I know Schuyler does that and I know people who own that business and go back out and
educate the providers.
Once they’ve done the CPMA, now you got to educate the billing staff and the providers
on what they’re looking for.
That’s something that you would like to get in and gritty with, then that would be
a good field to go into.
Like I said if you have a particular field you like, a subject that you like on the CPC,
there’s a specialty exam for that as well.
Call my girlfriend crazy but she loves interventional radiology.
I cringed cardiology, she loves it, she can spit out any code, any diagnosis, she is amazing.
But she can rattle any of that also.
She gets really excited talking about the two when we do CPC review prior to an exam.
If there’s something that you really like, you really like pediatrics, you feel comfortable
with those codes.
Go for that specialty, that would be something to look at.
Your outpatient coding, so if you like hospitals, that would be something to look at.
A lot of high volume work.
Another thing to think about as well, what’s available in your area?
If you live pretty remote, you may not have very many options.
So if you need to look at to something that does remote work, then you might need to narrow
down some of the fields.
If there’s a large hospital in your area you might want to look into doing the outpatient
then there’s some kind of radiology or something that that hospital offers that might be good
for your career.
I personally love the CPB program.
I’m so happy they came out with that and I love taking that exam and I love teaching
it right now.
So, that to me is I think the two go together.
I think you would be an excellent coder if you also know how the billing works and you’re
an excellent biller if you know how the coding works.
So, billing is your back end.
It’s finding your money, getting paid for those.
You know that those two procedures go together so now let’s fight to get those two procedures
paid by the insurance company.
Because they can be billed together, you understand the NCCI edits.
So you have to know things like fraud and abuse.
You’ve already learned some of that for the CPC so now kind of incorporate and put
it all together.
If running a business is looking like one of the career goals you’d really like to
do, you have the CPCO, the compliance officer.
They’re going to set up the programs in your office or possibly for a large corporation
or a hospital.
CPPM, the practice management; there are a couple companies out there that offer MGMA
and some of the other organizations that do offer practice management credential.
So, if there’s something that you’d really want to do: running a business, doing the
human resources.
You love working with people, you love being a leader.
Those would be some good fields to look into.
It’s dependent upon your skills, and like I said what’s in your area.
So, learning about a particular field but there’s nothing available in your area it
may not be beneficial in the long run, if you’ve got to drive a long way or take a
lot of time away from your family, that’s not what you want to do.
And looking at where do you want to find yourself, where do you want to be with this career?
This career has so many opportunities available with all the credentials that are out there,
with all the aspects of any medical field that you could work in.
So, I get really excited about new credentials.
I’m excited to take my exam on Saturday, so I’m hopeful to keep going.
I’ve got two planned for this year.
Let’s see how that goes.
Coach Alicia: That’s exciting.
And someone had asked Jennifer, any suggestion of blogs?
Of course, CCO has there; CCO Club has blog posts and everything.
But off the top of your head can you think of anything else?
One that you would suggest for people that are interested.
Of course, the AAPC has one.
I am a huge proponent for practice management of AMBA for billing.
They’re fabulous and PAHCOM for practice management.
They are amazing.
Those two organizations, I would look into.
Coach Jennifer: The very first organization I actually ever heard of was MGMA because
my girlfriend belonged to them and she was our practice administrator, so I thought they
were really well-organized.
Especially if you are a particular specialty you want to go into, then that society association
would have a blog as well.
That’s something that you’d want to keep up on.
Coach Alicia: Very good.
Thank you very much.
C:\Users\Ruth\Pictures\CCO\CertCoachingOrg Footer.jpg