DCH Health System | Healthy Community | Fall 2013 - page 1

CALLING ALL
CODERS
QUITINA CLEMENTS’ ENTIRE
-year career, most of
it at DCH Health System, was spent as a medical tran-
scriptionist working from home. At , she decided to
go back to school for medical coding.
“I loved being a transcriptionist, but transcribing was
fading away,” Clements said. “Personally, I was a little
burned out and wanted to make a change. And the future
for coding looked good.”
So while continuing to work full time for DCH and
raising two teenagers with her husband, Clements hit
the books at Wallace State Com-
munity College in Hanceville, Ala.
Except for two trips to the college,
she completed all her coursework
online, participating in the school’s
four-semester medical coding cer-
tificate program.
Once she completed the courses,
Clements successfully passed the
certified coding specialist exam of
the American Health Information
Management Association.
Pam Pitts and Crystal Kramer, in DCH Health Infor-
mation Management, are glad that Clements made the
switch to coding. Pitts, administrative director, HIM, and
Kramer, coding compliance reimbursement manager, are
dealing with the same shortage of certified medical coders
that is a problem across the nation.
“There has always been a shortage of formally
trained coders,” Pitts said. “But with ICD- coming, it’s
changed the whole coding process. The complexity is
tremendous.”
IMPACT OF ICD-10
The medical coding field will ex-
pand from the World Health Organization’s , ICD-
codes to approximately , ICD- diagnosis codes.
“There’s also a whole new set of procedure codes to learn
that coders have never dealt with,” Kramer explained.
Some coders have learned three sets of codes as the
industry has grown in complexity—ICD-, ICD- and now
ICD-. Some nearing retirement don’t want to learn the
ICD- codes, Pitts said, creating job openings here and
across the United States.
The United States is the last country to adopt the ICD-
 codes, which offer greater clinical detail and specificity.
Disease classification has been updated to be consistent
with current clinical practice, too.
Accurate medical coding is important because it de-
termines how DCH is paid by Medicare and insurance
A DCH PUBLICATION
F A L L 2 0 1 3
READY TO QUIT SMOKING?
We’re here to help.
TURN TO PAGE 2
As of Jan. , , no tobacco use of any kind
will be permitted—inside or outside—at DCH
Regional Medical Center, Northport Medical
Center, Fayette Medical Center and Pickens
County Medical Center.
This is another way that DCH Health System is com-
mitted to the health and safety of its employees, patients,
physicians, volunteers and visitors.
Tobacco use remains the No.  cause of preventable and
premature deaths nationwide, and secondhand smoke
contains more than , chemicals, of which  are
known carcinogens.
“We have a responsibility to eliminate health hazards
and promote healthy lifestyle choices,” DCHHealth System
President/CEO Bryan Kindred said. “Going tobacco-free
helps protect the community, staff, patients, families and
guests from the harmful effects of tobacco use.”
DCH GOES
TOBACCO-
—Continued on page
Quitina Clements
Certified coding
specialist
DCH deals with medical coder
shortage while prepping for ICD-
HEALTHY
community
1 2,3,4,5,6,7,8
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