Michael Huntoon
New Member
Brief background:
Earned a Masters in Education in 1994. Haven't been to school since (as a student).
School always came very easy to me - very little studying, aced tests.
Taught full-time for 8 years at the elementary level.
Stay-at-home-Dad for several years with our four kids.
Several months ago, my wife and I decided it was time for me to go back to work. Having no desire to go back into the classroom, it was time to make some life decisions - specifically, a new career field.
After doing some research, I found that Medical Coding seemed to be a good growth field where I should be able to find employment fairly easily. I don't know any coders, personally, but from what I've read online I'm somewhat optimistic.
I immediately signed up with AAPC and took their Human Anatomy and Medical Terminology courses and did pretty well in each. I've since been working on the CPC certification prep program and I find that it's kicking my behind. As I mentioned above, school has always come easy to me. That's not to say that I loafed or didn't take things seriously, it's just that I've always had good comprehension and retention skills that have benefited me when taking tests. I don't know if it's the way this material is being presented, the fact that I've been out of the classroom as a student for over 20 years, I'm just getting older, or a combination of all three. Regardless, I'm somewhat concerned.
I recently finished chapter 6 of their program (Introduction to CPT, Surgery Guidelines, HCPCS, and Modifiers) where I scored a 95 on the final exam. My wife was very proud of me, but it scared the daylights out of me because I have no idea what I learned in that chapter. Taking a multiple-choice test set up similar to the way the real certification test is set up, I'm able to ace things by either recalling the information, knowing where to look, or simply reverse-engineering the test (starting with the answers and looking for the question). If the certification exam is really set up like this, I'll do great - even though I realize it's far more intense in terms of number of questions and time.
My concern, however, is the fact that I'll feel like a fraud bringing my shiny new certification into a prospective employer with no clue how to read the medical reports and parse out what I truly need to get the job done. I wouldn't feel at all comfortable passing myself off as someone who does understand the job (no matter what our current financials look like) and I'm certain that I'd be exposed fairly quickly anyhow.
I've reviewed a few of Laureen's youtube videos and I've found the cco.us site to have an extensive collection of excellent videos (far better than the extreme monotone of the AAPC audio lectures). I've also found other resources via Google that have helped to some degree, but I feel like I've missed some essential building blocks and that with the shaky foundation I've prepared any further construction will result in a collapse.
I can't afford the Blitz program at this time and, to be honest, I'm not sure they are even the answers I'd need at this point.
I'm just hoping that someone else here will be able to relate to my current status and offer some insight I might be missing on ways to better understand the parts that are tripping me up. Specifically, the chapter 7 practice application I'm currently working on may as well be written in Farsi as I don't understand it anyhow. I look at the OP and don't know where to look (ICD or CPT or HCPCS or a combo of the three) without the prompts they offer, which I actually find distracting.
If anyone has any suggestions for me, I'd greatly appreciate them. I'm sorry my first post here is so lengthy, I've just been struggling with this for a few weeks now and wanted to explain what's bothering me so much in detail for the benefit of anyone willing/able to help.
Thanks!
Earned a Masters in Education in 1994. Haven't been to school since (as a student).
School always came very easy to me - very little studying, aced tests.
Taught full-time for 8 years at the elementary level.
Stay-at-home-Dad for several years with our four kids.
Several months ago, my wife and I decided it was time for me to go back to work. Having no desire to go back into the classroom, it was time to make some life decisions - specifically, a new career field.
After doing some research, I found that Medical Coding seemed to be a good growth field where I should be able to find employment fairly easily. I don't know any coders, personally, but from what I've read online I'm somewhat optimistic.
I immediately signed up with AAPC and took their Human Anatomy and Medical Terminology courses and did pretty well in each. I've since been working on the CPC certification prep program and I find that it's kicking my behind. As I mentioned above, school has always come easy to me. That's not to say that I loafed or didn't take things seriously, it's just that I've always had good comprehension and retention skills that have benefited me when taking tests. I don't know if it's the way this material is being presented, the fact that I've been out of the classroom as a student for over 20 years, I'm just getting older, or a combination of all three. Regardless, I'm somewhat concerned.
I recently finished chapter 6 of their program (Introduction to CPT, Surgery Guidelines, HCPCS, and Modifiers) where I scored a 95 on the final exam. My wife was very proud of me, but it scared the daylights out of me because I have no idea what I learned in that chapter. Taking a multiple-choice test set up similar to the way the real certification test is set up, I'm able to ace things by either recalling the information, knowing where to look, or simply reverse-engineering the test (starting with the answers and looking for the question). If the certification exam is really set up like this, I'll do great - even though I realize it's far more intense in terms of number of questions and time.
My concern, however, is the fact that I'll feel like a fraud bringing my shiny new certification into a prospective employer with no clue how to read the medical reports and parse out what I truly need to get the job done. I wouldn't feel at all comfortable passing myself off as someone who does understand the job (no matter what our current financials look like) and I'm certain that I'd be exposed fairly quickly anyhow.
I've reviewed a few of Laureen's youtube videos and I've found the cco.us site to have an extensive collection of excellent videos (far better than the extreme monotone of the AAPC audio lectures). I've also found other resources via Google that have helped to some degree, but I feel like I've missed some essential building blocks and that with the shaky foundation I've prepared any further construction will result in a collapse.
I can't afford the Blitz program at this time and, to be honest, I'm not sure they are even the answers I'd need at this point.
I'm just hoping that someone else here will be able to relate to my current status and offer some insight I might be missing on ways to better understand the parts that are tripping me up. Specifically, the chapter 7 practice application I'm currently working on may as well be written in Farsi as I don't understand it anyhow. I look at the OP and don't know where to look (ICD or CPT or HCPCS or a combo of the three) without the prompts they offer, which I actually find distracting.
If anyone has any suggestions for me, I'd greatly appreciate them. I'm sorry my first post here is so lengthy, I've just been struggling with this for a few weeks now and wanted to explain what's bothering me so much in detail for the benefit of anyone willing/able to help.
Thanks!