No trashy emergency

What can I say?  I can say the staff in the emergency room at Touro Infirmary is professional, efficient and a pleasure to deal with.  I'm not one to visit a doctor usually, but it's nice to have a fully staffed hospital down the street.  I can't wait to see the bill.

Being a medical biller, I know that insurers purchase medical services wholesale while people without insurance pay retail.  Everyone knows that only a sucker pays retail.  No insurance means that I didn't have much choice.  It's how the system is set up.  Unlike other businesses, you can't ask for a discount if you pay cash up front rather than set up a tedious payment plan.  They aren't allowed to offer discounts on prices they conjure out the air.

If a clinic were open in the dead of night, I would have much preferred to go there for half the retail expense.  It's the luck of the clock.  The nurse was nice enough to tell me what clinics are close to my home so I wouldn't have to go to a full scale hospital if my symptoms recurred during normal working hours.

Now that I know the problem, there isn't much chance I'll be seeking professional care over OTC, self-treatment until a doctor's office opens.  I woke up in the middle of the night and I said to myself, "If someone told you this, what would you advise?  You'd tell them to go to the hospital and damn the cost."  For once, I listened to reasonable advice, even if it was my own.  I opened a dresser drawer to put on a shirt and the sound awoke the lady of the house.  "What are you doing?" she asked.  "I'm going to the hospital,"  I answered.  "Do you want me to drive you?" she replied.  "Yes," was my answer.

No hubbub.  We just got in the car and took care of business.  Have I mentioned before that I am in love?

Today's illustration is the sign for the Trashy Diva shop on Magazine Street.  Have I mentioned before that I love New Orleans?

Medical Billing Careers, Medical Coding Careers

The other day, traffic on one of my other blogs exceeded that of the hallowed Dot Matrix.  I'm happy to provide a link to Surgical Pathology Coder for anyone interested in what occupies my time during the mornings.  I warn you: it is dull, technical, hair-splitting stuff.  If you have an interest in starting a career in medical billing and coding, consider this a peek behind the curtain.

I am forever seeing ads touting my profession as a hot, growing field.  Most of these ads are directed to potential students to specialize in medical billing by enrolling in a private school.  I enjoy what I do, I've been doing it a long time, but to describe it as exciting and dynamic is to misstate the facts.  The above link demonstrates the kinds of issues that dominate a coders and billers brain power.  Competent medical billers and coders are in demand, more so now than ever before.  New Orleans seems to have too many at the moment with so many hospitals closed and the population down post-Katrina, but good, reliable help is always hard to find.

It is tedious and exacting work, much of it spent typing and much of it dominated by government regulations and contractual obligations.  In it's way it's quite fascinating and stimulating despite being repetitive much of the time.  As my other blog demonstrates, many coders and billers specialize in a particular field of medicine.  If you work in primary care, you code thousands of flu shots every late autumn, for instance.  I've worked in a variety of medical specialties and each of them has their own nuances to master, but once that's done it is pretty much the same thing day after day.  If you are happy with that, and I usually am, then medical billing and coding may be for you.

Don't think I'm downplaying the value of my profession.  It is vitally important to keep the healthcare system running.  Medical billers ensure that appropriate payment is made for medically necessary services.  Medical coders ensure that medical information is accurately reported according to a standardized methodology.  This isn't just for reimbursement purposes.  The reported information is collected by outside agencies like the Center for Disease Control and Prevention for research and to track trends in national health.

A medical biller is not the person who sends you bills after you receive medical care.  He or she is the person who gets your bills paid by insurance or government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.  It is an intricate system with many rules and regulations beyond those governing coding.  If you like solving problems, no matter how ethereal they may seem, it is a good and rewarding career.  It isn't for everyone though.

WK

New London Ear Spider

There was a spider in John Dufresne’s ear. The doctors at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital cannot explain how the spider got there.

John Dufresne, age 34, of 17 Edgewood Terrace, began complaining to his wife about pain in his left ear a week ago. It started off as a minor irritation, but as the week wore on, it became unbearable. He also couldn’t hear in his left ear, which irritated his wife. He only heard half his list of chores, so the trash wasn’t taken out and the cat wasn’t fed and the gutters were still clogged. The whole time he was complaining about his ear.

He couldn’t sleep. Finally Mrs. Dufresne got tired of his tossing and turning in bed, so at 11:30 PM, she took her husband to the Emergency Room. Doctors examined John Dufresne at 5:30 the following morning. The Ears, Nose and Throat specialist on call dropped his otoscope when he saw the cause of Mr. Dufresne’s complaint.

Other doctors were called in to take a look. They were amazed. Cases like this happen in textbooks and journals, but rarely In New London, Conn. John Dufresne had a spider in his left ear and it looked like the spider had made its home there for about a week. It was no wonder Mr. Dufresne had become hard of hearing. His left ear was full of webs and dead flies, as well as the spider.

A quick dose of Raid finished Mr. Dufresne’s unwelcome visitor. The doctor washed out the ear with normal saline solution from an IV bag and a syringe. By 11:30 AM, John Dufresne was as good as new. He could hear perfectly normally and he was pain-free.

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