Watch your work space for better concentration and coding accuracy

A medical coding job requires copious research and razor sharp concentration. Some coders struggle with work environments in which it’s difficult to do both. Here we act as a medical coding career guide and give you some tips as to how you can work on your work space to bring in better concentration.

Let’s take the example of a coder who codes complex surgeries at a nationally-renowned university health system. She works in one of four cubicles crammed into a tiny office that has room for 4 coders. Her desk cannot even hold a monitor and as such, she has built a makeshift ICD-9 shelf.

To add to the woes, surgeons are constantly squeezing in to answer queries; therefore, she’s often struggling to concentrate in the noise that four coders and 5-6 clinicians can make in the tiny space.

She plans to shift office soon, but in the meantime wears headphones and is looking into coding reference software so that she does not have to shuffle around books.

According to coding and reimbursement expert Cristina Bentin at the ASC Coding & Reimbursement Conference in Orlando, paying attention to your work space may seem like an insignificant thing, but it can be an important step towards improving your coding accuracy.

Bentin is of the opinion that you ask your supervisor to support your coding excellence by providing the following:

• Ask for a quieter corner. Keep the distance from hallways, the copy machine, and the fax machine.
• If your supervisor puts you on the phone during hectic times, encourage her to let you set aside your ‘coding time’ for pure coding. It’s difficult to focus on an op report if you are constantly interrupting your thoughts to answer calls.