Welcome to HIT241. This is Cindy
Johnson, your instructor for CPT coding.
Today we're going to review the syllabus
and go over a couple of things that I
think are very important all my contact
information is here on the first page
this course introduces the student to
CPT coding and helps you master it well
enough to pass the National rhit exam to
code correctly is essential that
students understand the medical record
documentation is your source of
information to support a code and you
will use your knowledge of medical
terminology anatomy physiology and
pathophysiology when you're interpreting
medical documentation this may require
you to look at google images or youtube
videos things to help familiarize you
with patient procedures and latour
surgery procedures and the different
nuances is a company those the
assignment schedule is a separate
document and should be downloaded and
printed for frequent reference the
course is loaded there's a lot in it you
have reading assignments in your
textbook the publisher provides power
points for your textbook and those are
available as a PDF so you can print them
I have created powerpoints and recorded
podcasts for you to watch that accompany
the publishers materials there are
exercises for you to complete which have
due dates and there's because n there
are exams throughout the semester which
also have specific availability
everything is listed on the assignment
schedule and that should really drive
your calendar as far as what is to win
on the content page the course is
divided in two weeks and each week you
see where the powerpoints that are
available for you to watch and or
download
the instructors power points for you to
watch and or download and the record
podcast of the instructors power points
I make a point of telling you this about
a grade of 0 is given if you just copy
and paste an answer from the answer key
the exercises have answer keys that are
released when you submit your homework I
do that so that you have immediate
feedback after you complete a coding
exercise and you can see where you went
wrong but if you submit a blank or a
nearly blank homework submission just so
you can have access to the answer key to
copy and paste the answers you will not
get the full point value that is
considered cheating in my book so you
have to be able to give an explanation
of what you're doing and show a true
effort that you attempted to find a code
even if you get it wrong that you made
the effort medical dictionaries would
probably be helpful anatomy and
physiology text but I spend more time
going to google images or youtube videos
looking at various procedures to
understand them you do whatever makes
you most comfortable a text book and a
code book or required in this course the
code book is what it sounds like all the
codes that are CPT codes the textbook
this is a new textbook for us I've
chosen it because it's a little less
expensive than the one that's been used
in the past although the cost of these
books is just crazy we have no control
over that as i'm sure you probably
realize what we are conscious of it and
we try to consider it when we're
assigning text for classes
the learning outcomes of the course are
listed here as well as the specific
outcomes for the specific exercises and
or exams these competencies are things
that AHIMA or km which is our credit
accreditation body requires of us in
order to offer an accredited H IT
program you are eligible to sit for the
rhit exam at the conclusion of this
associate degree because we are an
accredited program learner expectations
and 241 many students when they come
into the program tell me they wanted to
be a coder I was a program chair for
quite a few years and I probably
interviewed most of you as you've gone
through the program at one point or
another going to be a coder and being
willing to do the work to become a coder
and pay your dues before you actually
get a coding job are the different
things that come into play on your
decision to become a coder we'll start
with this course CPT coding is one of
several coding courses that we offer
edit ACC your icd-10 coding courses are
220 221 231 and 241 here is your CPT
coding course the National rhit exam has
questions that pertain to each of those
three code sets so you really have to
understand the format structure of the
different code sets and how you might
use them as well as the importance of
applying guidelines I cannot
overestimate the importance of
guidelines too often students try to
define a code and are so happy when they
find a code but you haven't completed
the work unless you've applied the
appropriate guideline to that code
assignment for this course i'm
estimating a minimum of eight to twelve
hours per week for you to do all the
reading watch the podcast the
powerpoints and complete your coding
exercises get your answer key and
correct your coding exercises for the
pool full points for the dropbox
exercises
one of the biggest reasons that students
are not successful in a coding course is
because not enough time is dedicated to
complete everything that needs to be
done to learn coding coding is hard it
is like learning a foreign language
unless you give it the time that it
requires you will not be successful I am
willing to meet with you do whatever I
can to help you be successful but
nothing i can do is a substitute for the
time that you will spend in that code
book becoming familiar with it learning
how to navigate it learning how to apply
the guidelines and completing all of
your homework this minimum of eight to
twelve hours depends on your history if
you've worked in with medical
documentation and are somewhat familiar
with it it may take you a little less
time but if you were brand new to
healthcare and brand new to reading
medical records it will take you the
upper end of that the 12 hours and maybe
a little bit more to do everything that
has to be done I make a point here also
that we are preparing you for the
national exam the rhit exam if it is
your professional goal to the comic odor
is going to require you to take
additional courses self study on your
own additional work experience anything
you can do to prepare for a career in
coding the CCS credential is one of the
coding credentials that a graduate can
earn with the rhit degree it consists of
questions and case scenarios from both
icd-10-cm pcs and CPT and I encourage
you to go to the edema website and look
at this coding credential investment
that you want to do and look at the
eligibility what what qualifies you to
sit for the CCS exam
I talk here just for a bit about for
professionalism I have this is my 11th
year teaching at ACC and I have not been
disappointed in the professional level
of my students and I think that's
because it's my expectation that
students actions will demonstrate their
professionalism whether they're
completing a requirement of the class or
their personal things you say in the
discussion board the way the respectful
way you ask questions or comment online
others post those are all evidence of
professionalism and just to make my
point that it's it's just important that
you demonstrate professionalism
everywhere you go at every level I'm
often asked to give professional
references for students and you better
believe that as students demonstrates
the professionalism is one of the things
that I look at because it tells me you
are dedicated to being a professional
and along with that sometimes it can be
so frustrating when you're learning
coding and if you express that
frustration inappropriately either
through the discussion board or in an
email to me you will be dealt with it is
important that you understand that it is
frustrating and there's appropriate ways
to deal with frustration is fine to ask
questions I want you to ask questions
email me or call me and say help me help
me understand how you got to that code
and I'm very happy to do that you just
have to demonstrate to me how you
attempted to find that code that way I
can see the effort and then I will
support your effort and help you
understand how to do it when questions
are asking discussion board and I can
answer them publicly everybody can see
how we came to an answer if you have a
question is a very good chance that the
person
yeah but your is a very good chance that
the other online students have the same
question here's the grade range with
this course which I think shouldn't
surprise you it's the same for all a
chai tea courses a word or two about
deadlines the last day to drop this
course and get your refund all your
money back is februari first the last
day withdraw and receive a w-4 this
course is april eleventh you do not get
your money back if you withdraw after
februari first i've already mentioned
the exercises have an answer keys and
this just just kind of explained that a
little bit more it's a two-step process
if you've been in any of my courses i
often use answer keys in this way it's
good to keep your textbooks as you
prepare for the national exam and if you
decide to go on and take the ccs exam a
little bit later but just remember that
unlike the textbooks your code books are
updated annually and would contain the
most recent coding guidelines so when
you're studying for especially your
coding exam if you decide to go forward
with the ccs exam you will need to get
the most recent so that you have the
guidelines
word again about coding guidelines in
the icd-10 courses the guidelines are
pretty much at the beginning of the
chapters as well as at the very
beginning of the code book cpt is a
little bit different there are
guidelines in front of the individual
chapters or the sections as we call it
on the cpt book but there's also link
theme notes throughout the cpt code book
that pertain to codes around them either
in front of them are behind them that
are sprinkled throughout the cpt book
and I'm or a more lengthy in many cases
than the icd-10 code book the icd-10
coding guidelines to me or more concise
whereas the CPT coding guidelines or
more narrative there's a lot more words
to read and I talk to you about the
answer key and how your answer key is
interpreted if you've taken the IC 10
course with me where I used answer keys
is very similar where you have a
diagnosis or coding scenario far left
the codes at our side of the middle and
then the far right is the pathway in the
rationale now in the case of CPT it
would be the index pathway and any
rationale any coding guidelines or
instructions that help you choose a code
and under academic into integrity I just
reiterate what I've said already about
importance of showing an effort just
remember when you grade your document
once you once you have the answer key in
hand to correct your document in such a
way that I can see what you've corrected
for example if you I don't care if you
use a red font of purple font a green
font something to show me a
differentiation between what you
originally had and what the answer key
is showing when I review your
submissions that helps me to know which
exercises are given the students more
problems
so it just tells me as a teacher to be
better prepared in the future to help
students understand those things as I
mentioned earlier about discussion board
I don't have any exercises on discussion
board I use discussion board in this
course as a visual tool for the students
to learn from one another when questions
are asked and explanations given if you
repost requests for help in a coding
exercise you have to show me the path
that you attempted to find the code and
that way I'll know we're in the process
you might need a little bit more help if
you're not comfortable asking questions
in a public forum like a discussion
board you are welcome to call me or
email me but you still have to tell me
the path that you've attempted to find
the code under due dates here
assignments are accepted up to one week
past the due date but there's a
two-point deduction for each day an
assignment is late if you know ahead of
time that you're not going to be able to
complete an exercise on time and you
give me a heads up you can request an
extension as long as its reasonable
coming to me after the fact and asking
for an extension you may not be
successful there's a syllabus quiz that
you should take today after you've
completed watching this syllabus podcast
missed exams may be taken for one half
of the original point value but only up
to one week late then I go into the
assignment of the incomplete if you are
thinking that you can aspirin and
complete these are stipulations for how
that is awarded and I make a point that
if you are repeating a coding course you
may be given different exams and your
classmates there should not be any
unfair advantage to one student over
another as far as exams I talked about
academic FX here the fairness
accommodations for disabilities and
there's a lot of contact information for
campus resources that's all I have for
the syllabus to give any questions you
can post them in discussion board or
email me or call me thank you so much
and have a good day
you