Debate rages over questions like, “Can taking vitamin supplements offset the damage we inflict on our bodies through eating a less-than-healthy diet?” (more…)
The Allen School Blog
Exploring Opportunities in the World of Medical Billing and Coding
Archive for June, 2009
Wellness Care – Preventative Medicine
The departure of two American cultrual icons yesterday – Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson – demonstrates just how tenuous our grasp is upon life. Both these legendary figures passed away years before their natural time. Their untimely demise provokes some thought surrounding the immense benefits of wellness care and other preventative medical strategies. (more…)
Riding the Age Wave
There has never been a better time to enter the world of medical billing and coding. Let me explain why. Healthcare professionals and healthcare students need a solid understanding of the “Age Wave” which will soon hit the United States. (more…)
Students Sound Off
I have activated the “Student & Alumni” category in advance of what should be a wave of student postings. So check back soon to read what your fellow classmates are thinking and blogging about. If you are a student or alumnus and you have a post you’d like to see on the front page, email it to me, along with your name, to blog@online.allenschool.edu and I will post the best of your submissions on the front page.
Fortune Cookie Wisdom
For so many of us who are working hard to just stay afloat in our personal lives — between debt, family obligations, relationships, careers and more — it is awfully easy to forget that we are indeed living in some historically interesting times. (more…)
Nancy Drew, Girl Detective
Some of you may already know this about me … others maybe not. At one time, I was just like you, believe it or not. I always knew that one day I go back to school and finish my education. Early on I thought I really wanted to be a nurse, even started nursing school. However, life did get in the way and I needed to drop out for a while. I had a problem pregnancy and lost a child. Eventually, I found my way back to school. By that time, I decided I no longer wanted to be a nurse. I had spent many years taking care of others so I wanted something new. I knew I wanted to stay in healthcare but what could I do that would let me help people? I discovered the world of Health Information Management … coding to be exact!
It was a like a dream come true! I could become the girl detective I always wanted to be growing up. My heroine years ago was Nancy Drew. I wanted to be like her. Remember the “Secret of the Old Clock?” Well, that was me!! As a young girl, I thrived on those books and becoming my own girl detective. I made my own secret code, used invisible ink, and spied on my brothers and their friends! Oh, how they hated that! You get the picture, I am sure!
Well, I found medical coding is a lot like that except someone else made up the secret code! You must learn a brand new language, the language of the medical field, and transfer that language into codes! You must dig deep sometimes in the patient’s medical record to determine the patient’s diagnoses and procedures the physician carried out in treating the patient! It is a lot of fun! It can be frustrating when you don’t find the right code or information. Once you do though there is a feeling of Eureka! I found it! I did it!
So tell me what you are discovering? What your thoughts?
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Balancing Work and Studies
My cousin is currently working a full time job and going back to school for some retraining after losing her job in an industry heavily impacted by the recession. Watching her struggle with keeping both her job performance and her studies from flagging, prompted me to look online for some ideas from others on how to balance work and studies. I will share with you what I recently shared with her. Here are some pretty common strategies for work/study balance that I encountered among the experiences of others posted online.
1) Be Organized -Whether you prefer an oldschool notepad, a traditional day planner or a fancy new PDA, it is critical to keep track of your obligations to both job and school.
2) Take an Incremental Approach – Don’t begin by trying to handle overtime at work and a full course load. Start out with a little less and see how you’re able to handle the load. If you have the bandwidth you can add more work hours or credits to your course load.
3) Balance the Difficulty of Your Classes – Select your classes wisely each semester. Mix some harder classes with some easier ones and you’ll find working and studying to be more sustainable. Taking all the tough classes together at the same time can lead to burnout!
4) Transcript Management – Keep on top of your credits. Especially if you’re attending different schools in pursuit of your educational goals. Even some credits you may have earned 10 years ago may still be transferable.
And if you’re currently a student of Allen School Online, then you’re on the right track because you’re already doing the last frequently mentioned strategy:
5) Consider Online Schools - The freedom and flexibility of taking online courses can really help out if you are working full time, taking care of children or both.
Best US Job Markets – Part 3
In a recent post, I listed out the top 5 best and worst job markets for healthcare related jobs in the country. I promised I would explore some of the areas in the “bests” portion of the list to continue my earlier series on “Best Job Markets in the US”. A man of my word, I am pleased to delve a bit into what makes Madison, Wisconsin such a great place to live and work.
About 75 miles west of the shores Lake Michigan, this beautiful city of 228,000 people is a youthful and vibrant place to live. For career minded singles or young couples seeking a great place to put down roots and start a family alongside their new career, Madison is an excellent choice. Almost 57% of the young population (median age 33 years) is single which is great for those seeking a new romance in addition to a new career. Yet housing and overall cost of living is attractive to those who are seeking to build a home alongside their career. The average home in Madison sells for $220,000 which is far more affordable than in areas such as New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles. The cost of living index in Madison is below the national average too. With a median annual income of nearly $50,000, the potential for good living in this Wisconsin gem is high.
Having spent a little time in Madison, I can say from experience that the city and surrounding metro areas are clean, attractive and inviting with excellent food, social activities, parks and music.
WHO: Swine Flu Pandemic Official
This week, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the Swine Flu has covered enough of the globe to qualify as the first pandemic in over 40 years. The formal announcement made this Thursday doesn’t mean the flu strain has become any more lethal, just that it has spread beyond any ability to contain it across the globe.
Swine flu has afflicted 29,000 people so far across nearly 80 countries worldwide. Luckily, the strain isn’t hyper-virulent and most folks who contract the illness require conventional medical treatment for their mild symptoms. The WHO have urged pharmaceutical maufacturers to produce stockpiles of anti-viral medication and governments have been working on developing vaccination programs to protect populations from easy transmission of the virus.
Although the first pandemic of the 21st Century seems to be mild by historical standards, the sheer number of people infected across the globe represents a serious burden on healthcare systems and underscores the insatiable demand for healthcare and healthcare support providers in a world with a burgeoning population.
Early Draft of Healthcare Bill Reveals Imminent Changes
On Friday a partial draft of the healthcare legislation currently wending its way through Congress was released. While the bill is likely to undergo significant revision, there are several sweeping changes proposed that are likely to be included in the final legislation.
One of the more interesting of the proposed changes involves the creation of a health insurance exchange. Known as the American Health Benefit Gateway, this portion of the proposed legislation would mandate that each state create and manage a gateway to help individuals and businesses purchase health insurance. According to the draft, the proposed Gateway will not allow the denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions. It would also guarantee the availability of health coverage in group and individual markets while eliminating lifetime or annual limits on the amount of care a provider will cover.
This part of the bill would certainly help those uninsured with pre-existing conditions to gain access to coverage. And the creation of gateways in every state will almost certainly boost employment among those in the field of medical record keeping. In fact, whatever shape the legislation ultimately takes, the goal of providing healthcare coverage for all Americans can only have a positive effect on employment in health related fields. It will be interesting to see how this historic reform bill ultimately pans out.
