Our 6 Biggest Medical Coding Nightmares

Don’t look now, but Halloween is just around the corner. While 2020 has given us more scares and uncertainties than we’d ever want in one year, a few more less-serious ones shouldn’t hurt anything, right? (We’re telling ourselves that, at least.)

For medical coders, nightmares are a little different than the average profession. In honor of October 31, here are six medical coding nightmares we never want to experience again:

1. Lack of Documentation

Codes need proper documentation for billing purposes, so it’s a nightmare when there isn’t any. Or, you get a response from the insurance company requiring documentation, which requires extra effort on your part.

2. Using Wrong Codes

Humans make mistakes. Medical coders are humans. So a fairly common nightmare is when you use the wrong medical code. That’s why it’s important to make sure you’ve memorized the most important codes and have the required books to double-check yourself.

3. Lack of Knowledge

Even if you have a medical coding certification, that doesn’t mean you have the lasting knowledge needed to succeed as a medical coder. Make sure you don’t get overwhelmed by brushing up on medical coding knowledge via a course or products.

4. Unbundling Codes

Ever use multiple codes for different components of a treatment when one code could have sufficed? Us too. This one keeps us up at night because it’s a nightmare of inefficiency.

5. Failed Certification Test

We’ve woken up in cold sweats thinking about students who take other medical coding courses and fail their certification exams. Fortunately, our students have a 98% success rate.

6. Rejected Insurance Claims

There’s always a big amount of uncertainty when it comes to submitting codes to insurance. Even if you did everything right, there’s a good chance they’ll reject it if the insurance company isn’t transparent. This is unfortunately an all-too-common nightmare.

Want to avoid nightmares like failing the certification test? Be sure to sign up for one of our medical coding courses today.