I work for a small independent family practice (three doctors and one nurse practitioner) and am the only coder/biller in the office. We are in risk agreements with a few of our payers. I’d like to know how other similar offices organize their coding/billing departments. Currently I scrub the charges passed from the providers via the EHR for E/M compliance and dx coding accuracy, send the claims, and work the denials. The providers here are not fabulous coders so scrubbing the claim for dx code accuracy takes a lot of time and querying.
I’ve worked through the CRC study guide but haven’t taken the exam. I understand how and why we’d code for risk. My question is how does everyone find the time to do all of the auditing? Are the providers you code for really good at selecting their E/M and dx codes including risk codes? Do you have more than one coder in the office? Any guidance is appreciated.
Thanks,
Stephanie Saylor CPC