And End and A Beginning

I haven't posted anything in a very long time.  It's embarrassing.  There....that's out of the way, now on to the very good (in my humble opinion) reason:

I graduated!  

Ok, so I already have a B.S. in music ed, but after discovering that I do not like teaching, that didn't really do me much good.  So for the last year, I've been studying to become a medical coder.  If you're like me, and have no idea what that actually is, allow to me explain very briefly.  You go to the doctor/hospital/nursing home/physical therapy/etc...  Whatever happens there is dictated into your medical record.  The medical record consists of words.  Medical coders turn those words into numbers that describe for whoever will be paying exactly what was done.  So I read the medical record, look up the code in the appropriate book and hope for the best!  Sounds easy, but I discovered that it's FAR more difficult and exacting than I ever could have imagined.

 Case in point, in the picture below, notice all the books lined up on my desk?  Those are just this year's code books.  They are updated every year, each for a specific set of codes (inpatient, outpatient, medical supplies/drugs and procedures for both inpatient and outpatient....because of course they can't just be coded the same way!)  The tiniest of details can make a huge difference in the amount that  a provider is reimbursed and thus, how much the patient has to pay.  It's a rather precise field. 

And so these days, most of my time is spent staring at the view from the picture above, studying for the national certification exam that will officially allow me to include the letters CPC (certified professional coder) after my name and qualify me for good jobs.  It's a good time, but it will be worth it (I hope!!) when I finally find a job (hopefully from home, but we'll see).  

So that's the scoop here.  Lots of work, a little fun here and there, but mostly just plugging away to accomplish a goal. 

Goal #1 Complete training course - COMPLETED

Goal #2 - Pass CPC exam - In Progress

Goal #3- Get a job - Getting there....