
Listen to the episode here: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/EBiWUwjOmNb
Back in January I hosted newly minted medical coder Revka Stearns. For someone so new to the industry, Revka has made a big impact by the act of sharing–documenting her journey in detailed and open fashion on LinkedIn and Facebook, and a half dozen podcasts and programs.
At the time she was on the show Revka had literally been on her first job for about 3 weeks. Eight months later I asked her to come back for an update and share her successes, challenges, and unexpected side-ventures.
Revka has many strengths—smart, hardworking, diligent–but one of them is effective use of social media, creating a model for how I like to see these platforms used (and unfortunately often aren’t).
But she’s also had her share of struggles. Coding is hard.
This was a bit of a longer interview so I split it into two parts, each about 30 minutes long. On part 1 we cover:
- Eight months on the job as a first-time medical coder
- Specific challenges she’s encountered, including:
- Making sure the organism causing an infection is clearly linked to that infection through documentation
- Ensuring documentation is carried through to discharge, beyond the provider just copying and pasting
- Recognizing query opportunities
- The reality of learning: Taking one step forward and two steps back
- Most rewarding aspects of the job
- What she knows now that she wished she knew back in January
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