PMI’s New Medical Coding Bundle – a conversation with PMI President/CEO David T. Womack and PMI PMI’s Medical Coding Bundle Instructor and Lead Creator Jan Hailey, MHL, CMC, CMCO, CMIS, CMOM, CMCA E/M
David: Jan, first of all, thank you for doing this and second talk to us about the medical coding bundle and why it exists.
Jan: Thank you for having me David! I have taught Practice Management Institute’s Certified Medical Coder course for many years. Recently, we have seen more people enrolling in this course that have a desire to learn and get certified, but they do not have the years of experience it takes to be successful. This is why I am especially excited about the new Medical Coding Bundle! Enrolled students have access to a progressive series of basic to intermediate-level courses. Once they are done with that training, they are ready to enroll in the top-level training: the Certified Medical Coder course.
This series is an excellent choice because it is an inclusive program for beginners who may not have any coding experience. It was designed to meet today’s needs and bring them up to the level that it takes to be successful in the certification course and gives them a better foundation to pass the exam.
Each of these classes is comprehensive; there are five different classes, plus a self-paced medical terminology course that the student can take. This series begins with the basics: introduction to medical coding, and then ICD-10, CPT, and HCPCS coding. Then the CMC course itself. It is a progressive series that will prepare the student to pass the CMC exam.
David: Fantastic! Thank you, Jan. In your words, from your point of view what does it really take to be successful? Because everyone always calls and asks how long it takes to do it and how much time should I allot, and that is certainly different for every person but I think you are of the mindset that there's a couple of key elements in being successful in coursework like this.
Jan: There are two main things needed to be successful, and the first thing is commitment! You must have the commitment and desire to reach your certification to become a certified professional. The second is to find your why - why do you want to do this? Do you want to better your career? Do you want to go into something new that you haven't done before? Finding your why will help you find the commitment. Once you have that commitment then you have to understand that it's going to take some time it's not just a matter of attending a three-hour class per week it's really about having time set aside to do homework to do different coding scenarios along the way and, also to take the time to reach out to the instructor if need be or to PMI for extra support if that's needed.
David: Absolutely and Jan one of the most - I guess unique things I personally think about the CMC coursework is the testing experience, and the benefit of the test the way that the CMC test is delivered for not just the student but also the employer. Can you talk about that for a minute?
Jan: Sure! So the Certified Medical Coder course... of course the goal is to be certified but it is a six-hour test...up to six hours - not all students take the full six hours, some students don't complete it, however what I really like about the certified medical coding exam is you have to actually code, it's not just multiple choice where you choose um one of the codes and as a hiring manager who hires coders, I like the CMC certification because I know when I hire somebody with the CMC certification they have actually learned the concepts of coding, not just being able to look up a code and get the correct code but they know the concept behind it, they know the guidelines they know how to apply those guidelines so I put a lot of emphasis on CMC.
David: And they know how to use the books!
Jan: Absolutely!
David: That is a big plus! And, like you said, you’ve taught this class for many years. A question I thought about while you were talking about the coursework...yes, there's the opportunity of doing this in the live setting and being able to interact with the faculty member live but they're also all recorded so that if somebody misses a session, they don't miss that class. And you've been, like you said, you've taught this for many years.
Talk about our commitment to ensuring students’ success. One of the other unique things I think is the study sessions that we've pulled together and then the one-on-one mentoring should someone need that or have difficulty with a concept. I don't know if you want to put a finer point on that.
Jan: PMI is committed to it students and so there's several different avenues students can take the live environment is always best of course that face-to-face environment now isn't as prevalent as it was prior to the pandemic so we now have live online courses so you do have a live instructor you have other students that you can interact so you're getting that classroom experience, but it’s being done virtually and we do record the classes. Now I want to mention when the classes are recorded that is just for the students in that class so you can still feel free to discuss different things with other students with the instructor but if you do have to miss a class for whatever reason you do have access to be able to go back and listen to that.
And then, of course, contact the instructor if you have any questions. We also offer the study sessions that you mentioned David. Those are held twice a month and those are open to all CMC students in all the courses whether it's a live course or an online course and that also gives the student an opportunity to meet with an instructor but it also offers the opportunity to interact with students and I think that's important it's important to have that interaction with the instructor but just as important to have interaction with students.
David: Thank you, Jan! I appreciate your time today and going through this. I think the medical coding bundle is a unique offering. I know that there's about $450 savings, because of the way it's all bundled together so that should certainly be an advantage to the students. I also want to let people know to visit www.pmiMD.com if you have any questions that anything that we haven't covered, any additional questions that you may have, we're certainly here and available for any of the questions that you might have. If you've got a particular question about the courses or how they're put together or how you interact with them, we're here to help to ensure our students’ success. Jan, thank you!
Jan: Thank you David, it’s been a pleasure!
Learn more about our Medical Coding Bundle
Would you like to pursue a career in medical coding even if you lack experience? Our Medical Coding Bundle is right for you! Learn more details about the program including class formats, cost and payment plans, and curriculum by clicking below.
