CCS is back!
CCS exam is back starting August 1st ! I just registered for a CCS
Prep course. Anyone else plans to take it?
From AHIMA:
CCHIIM RELAUNCHES THE CCS EXAM AUGUST 1
The Commission on Certification for Health Informatics and Information
Management (CCHIIM) has announced that the Certified Coding Specialist
(CCS) examination will be available again beginning August 1. The exam
was suspended in all US and Global Pearson Professional Centers on
March 31, due to exam security and integrity concerns. These issues
have since been resolved in the US; there is no further information on
when the exam will resume in Asia.
Registration for the exam is available in the AHIMA Store. After
registration and payment, an Authorization to Test letter allows
registrants to schedule an exam date. A list of testing centers is
available at the Pearson Vue website.
Read more at the Journal of AHIMA website.
Thank you!
Yuliya Fish, RN, BSN, CCDS, CDIP
Clinical Documentation Specialist
Mount Sinai Beth Israel Brooklyn
Office 718-951-9976
Prep course. Anyone else plans to take it?
From AHIMA:
CCHIIM RELAUNCHES THE CCS EXAM AUGUST 1
The Commission on Certification for Health Informatics and Information
Management (CCHIIM) has announced that the Certified Coding Specialist
(CCS) examination will be available again beginning August 1. The exam
was suspended in all US and Global Pearson Professional Centers on
March 31, due to exam security and integrity concerns. These issues
have since been resolved in the US; there is no further information on
when the exam will resume in Asia.
Registration for the exam is available in the AHIMA Store. After
registration and payment, an Authorization to Test letter allows
registrants to schedule an exam date. A list of testing centers is
available at the Pearson Vue website.
Read more at the Journal of AHIMA website.
Thank you!
Yuliya Fish, RN, BSN, CCDS, CDIP
Clinical Documentation Specialist
Mount Sinai Beth Israel Brooklyn
Office 718-951-9976
Comments
Mark
http://www.primacodemasters.net/newpage.html
Jamie Dugan RN CCDS
Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialist
Baptist Health System
Jacksonville, Florida
Jamie Dugan RN CCDS
Clinical Documentation Specialist
Baptist Health System
Jacksonville, Florida
Thanks,
Deb
Debra Stewart BSN, RN
Clinical Documentation Specialist
Halifax Regional Hospital
South boston, va. 24592
(434)-517-3317 Work
(434)-222-9884 Cell
Proud to say I passed.
Hope this help and Good Luck
Tiffany Andras LPN, CCS, CDS
Thiboduax Regional Medical Center
This was my advice:
The test is split in domains. I had no problem (100%) on compliance, privacy/ethics, Data quality management, Documentation and the inpatient regulatory/reporting guidelines. I did fine on the information/communication technology as well. I struggled a little more with the outpatient regulation/reporting guidelines (probably because I have no background in outpatient).
But, what really threw me was the actual diagnosis and procedure coding. It was BRUTAL! Prior to beginning to study I had never opened a CPT book so the outpatient procedure coding was exceedingly difficult. I also don’t ever look at V-codes, so I needed to learn those as well.
The exam has roughly 100 mult choice/mult select. That was the easy part for me. Then there are 12 cases that you have to code. Time is really the issue. I realized that I was only on case #7 with 30 minutes left in the exam (and I am a fast reader)! I had read somewhere that you get points for each correct dx/procedure but you get extra point for having the correct Pdx. When I realized there was no way I would complete every case I began flipping though, assigning the principle dx and any easy dx I saw in the D/C summery (HTN, DM, hyperlipemia) and just entering 0000 for the other blanks (you have to enter something to move on). This worked for me. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have wasted so much time searching for one missing dx (you know how many codes you should have based on the blanks) and should have focused on just getting the easy dx. I also likely should have skipped the CPT procedure entirely and moved on to the ones I was more likely to get right. I am positive my score would have been higher this way. You actually can miss a lot of the coding questions and still pass when you do well on the other portions.
I did use the AHIMA study guide. I would also suggest memorizing as much as possible of the "Guidelines" in the book. You have the book but you do not have time look that stuff up. I would not waste my time (although I did) on reviewing coding clinics.
Good luck to everyone!!
Katy Good, RN, BSN, CCDS, CCS
Clinical Documentation Program Coordinator
AHIMA Approved ICD-10CM/PCS Trainer
Flagstaff Medical Center
Kathryn.Good@nahealth.com
Cell: 928.814.9404
Katy-how long did you prep for? Did you mainly use the AHIMA guide to study?
I think with studying I could wing the inpt coding/questions-but I am petrified of the outpt portion and am wondering if I can self-teach this part?
Thanks,
Kerry
Kerry Seekircher, RN, BSN, CCDS, CDIP
Documentation Specialist Supervisor
Northern Westchester Hospital
400 East Main Street
Mount Kisco, NY 10549
Email: kseekircher@nwhc.net
Phone: 914-666-1243
Fax: 914-666-1013
The basic coding portion is pretty easy. I just made the mistake of obsessing about getting all the possible codes so I spent a lot of time hunting around the book for obscure codes. I should have just grabbed the ones that stood out and were easy to find and moved on. I will be honest, I find CPT pretty difficult. I probably needed a class on that. But the I-9 part of OP was easy. I should have just skipped the CPT part.
I think it's important to remember that most of us in CDI that do some sort of coding are exclusively using the encoder which does nothing for you on the test. Get comfortable with your book, it's the only resource you will have.
Katy Good, RN, BSN, CCDS, CCS
Clinical Documentation Program Coordinator
AHIMA Approved ICD-10CM/PCS Trainer
Flagstaff Medical Center
Kathryn.Good@nahealth.com
Cell: 928.814.9404
Kerry
1. The principal diagnosis MUST be correct in any inpatient scenarios
2. Avoid the clinical tendency to infer what 'should be coded' versus what is EXPLICTLY documented
3. CC/MCC Selection must be valid and based on UHDDS Definition
4. Yes, CPT is totally different from ICD, but one should be familiar with coding some of the basic outpatient procedures, such as colonoscopy, excision of skin lesions, bunionectomy, and so forth.
Paul Evans, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CCDS
I did not take a prep course. I did have a couple of study books and spent three weeks basically doing nothing but studying. The fact that I don't ever study for anything and did no prep work whatsoever for either the CCDS or the CDIP may tell you how different I felt this test to be. Of course the ICD-9 side was much easier to grasp than the CPT side. Because I tend to be forgetful about things I don't use every day even if I've studied, I had to make notes--you can mark up your coding books within reason. I added colored tabs to each section and labeled them so it was easier to navigate the books. I was a little bit at a loss with CPT until I decided just to go from front to back of the CPT book and mark each section so that I understood what fell under each section and that I could find it readily. I marked similar procedures together and made notes showing the differences. I marked the indices. I wrote notes to myself in the margins such as to remember to add modifier codes and to remember bilaterality on any page it applied. On the ICD-9 side, I did the same thing, but didn't need to do as much. I wrote on every OB page, v27.0, to remind me to code live newborn (that's my forgetfulness again). I wrote an abbreviated list of the V-codes so I could find them easily. On the page with temporary trach, I wrote the V-code for vent dependence--again, something a coder would know to do but that I rarely had to think about as a CDI. Anything that came up when I did practice questions or study points was written on the appropriate page in the book. If I didn't understand something, I Googled the heck out of it until I found someone who had a answer.
So when I finally got around to taking the test, it was actually pretty easy because I had prepped so well. Admittedly, I scored higher on the theory questions than on the actual coding, but it's the overall score that counts.
Renee
Linda Renee Brown, RN, CCDS, CCS, CDIP
Eileen Pracz, RN CCDS
Thanks,
Tara RN, CCDS
Jamie Dugan RN, CCDS
Clincal Documentation Improvement Specialist
3563 Philips Highway, Suite #106
Jacksonville, Florida 32207
Office: 904-202-4345
Good luck!
Katy Good, RN, BSN, CCDS, CCS
Clinical Documentation Program Coordinator
AHIMA Approved ICD-10CM/PCS Trainer
Flagstaff Medical Center
Kathryn.Good@nahealth.com
Cell: 928.814.9404
Paul Evans, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CCDS
Manager, Regional Clinical Documentation & Coding Integrity
Sutter West Bay
633 Folsom St., 7th Floor, Office 7-044
San Francisco, CA 94107
Cell: 415.412.9421
evanspx@sutterhealth.org
I took a prep course in Sept., but kept postponing the exam.
Yuliya Fish, RN, BSN, CCDS, CCS, CDIP
Clinical Documentation Specialist
Mount Sinai Beth Israel Brooklyn
Office 718-951-9976
Jamie
Jamie.dugan@bmcjax.com
Jamie Dugan RN, CCDS
Clincal Documentation Improvement Specialist
3563 Philips Highway, Suite #106
Jacksonville, Florida 32207
Office: 904-202-4345
Thanks,
Tara
TKreiling78@comast.net
Katy Good, RN, BSN, CCDS, CCS
Clinical Documentation Program Coordinator
AHIMA Approved ICD-10CM/PCS Trainer
Flagstaff Medical Center
Kathryn.Good@nahealth.com
Cell: 928.814.9404
-Rachel Mack, RN, CCDS, CDIP
303-403-7925 (office)
rachel.mack@sclhs.net
Julie Draper
CDI Team Lead
641.428.7032
draperj@mercyhealth.com