The first thing you need to focus on when you are looking for coding and compliance careers is your knowledge of specific documentation issues that can arise with patients and coding. Your experience with patient coding should be highlighted. If you have knowledge of coding for medical insurance, patients, billing, compliance for Medicare, and other various billing rules for healthcare organizations, you should include all of this on your resume. Be specific with your general coding knowledge and which sector you have the experience in.
There are many areas of coding for jobs in compliance with the government. If you have held compliance jobs where you have dealt with any inspections or auditing by the government this should be included also. This type of knowledge is very valuable and might be what gets you in the door if a company is expecting an audit soon. Any knowledge of how to conduct a coding audit should not be withheld from your resume.
Billing and coding rules and regulations can be difficult to comply with. However, it could mean a bill not being paid by a medical insurance company if it is not done right. If you know the regulations and rules set forth this is also knowledge that should be included.
If you have taken part in strategies to improve documentation, train staff, or even educate other employees on compliance, this is another valuable piece of experience. Documentation is very difficult to write for coding and this knowledge needs to be included on your resume. Other things you might want to consider as relevant when you are looking for coding and compliance careers include experience with fraud settlements, convictions, rules, and even OIG reports.
Customizing your resume for jobs in compliance means using the right keywords. Employers are going to run searches for certain words and phrases like compliance, coding, OIG, medical coding, electronic billing, medical billing, and more. If your resume doesn't include these pertinent keywords then it will not be pulled up when they run a search. In addition, if you post your resume on a job search site you may not match up with the jobs in compliance you are looking for. You need to tailor your resume to match up with the types of compliance careers you are looking for. Coding is specific to the medical and insurance industry, so you don't want to be filtering through emails from hiring companies with jobs that are not related.
There are handfuls of careers focusing on jobs in compliance for people who have skills and experience in coding. If you want to work in a hospital or medical setting then you could work in health information management. Relevant departments may include accreditation, coding and billing, critical access, ambulatory, inpatient coding, HIPAA, outpatient, physician practice, or even training. Your options are not limited when you have knowledge of medical coding.
When you are looking for coding and compliance careers you want to determine where it is that you want to work. You have a skill that is in demand and you will have the opportunity to pick and choose. If you live in a city and you do not want to move out of it then you might think about which hospitals or medical centers are closest to your home. This can help you narrow down your search. You want to be clear about how far you are willing to commute to get to work and if you are willing to travel at all in your position. You may have sister hospitals in other states and be asked to travel across the nation to write documentation. The more specific you are with your search the better your chances are of narrowing down the compliance careers you are most interested in.
If employers are not currently hiring and you are sure of where you want to work, the best you can do is be ahead of them. Be sure they have an updated resume for you every few months. Be sure to continuously check on their site and sites where they post their compliance openings. This way you will be one of the first to apply. It is common for a hospital to want to fill a position quickly, but there is a hiring process in hospitals that can take up to a month to get through. The sooner you apply the better your chances are of getting hired.
If you are looking for coding and compliance careers you need to be sure you specify all of your experience and education in coding on your resume. Use the right keywords so you show up at the top of the searches the employers are using. Also, make sure your resume is always updated.
