Top Skills Needed to Succeed in Medical Billing Classes

There is honor in all work no matter how high minded or menial.  It is an inherently selfless act that produces the value every worker requires to feed his or her family and to provide value to the greater community at large.  Perhaps no labor is more selfless than that of those in the medical field.  Whether you’re a nursing assistant, a medical office assistant or a medical billing and coding specialist, the fruits of your labor involve the healing of the infirm and the comfort of the afflicted. So today as our nation celebrates the staggering contributions of workers throughout American history, we here at the Allen School Blog tip our Uncle Sam hats (yes, we’re all wearing big stars and stripes top hats today) to you for all that you do. Happy Labor Day to all!

If you’re one of the online medical coding program students who has been following our coverage of the Windows 10 roll out here on the Allen School Blog, we hope you’ve had an easy go of it upgrading your operating system to the new Windows 10.  It is truly a great operating system and will go a long way towards making your online medical coding program experience easier and more efficient.  As such, we’re happy to share these tips and tricks with you for optimizing your use of Microsoft’s latest and greatest. The following information comes courtesy of Tom McNamara of Download.com. The New Start Menu and Cortana The biggest gripe with Windows 8 (the previous generation of Windows as there was no ‘9’) was that they did away with the very familiar and useful “Start” button in favor of a mobile device-style “tile screen” which made it difficult to get to core features like the control panel and others.  Windows 10 has restored the Start button but the new start menu is a hybrid between the old Start menu and the tiled interface for a best of both worlds arrangement.  It works quite well. Cortana is the artificial intelligence “assistant” that accepts voice commands.  Thik “Siri” for your Windows machine.  You can ask Cortana questions using your voice (as long as your computer is equipped with microphone) and it will answer.  Pretty nifty. Virtual Desktops We know that online medical coding program students are busy people.  Many often maintain full time jobs and families while studying for their new career.  So their computers are frequently doing double duty – some school work and some household or job related work.  The virtual desktop feature in Windows 10 allows the user to build separate desktops.  You could build one for online medical coding course purposes and another completely separate one for other interests and then toggle seamlessly between the two depending on the tasks at hand. One Drive Formerly referred to as “SkyDrive”, this is Microsoft’s answer to the Google Drive.  It is essentially a cloud storage system where you can store files, work collaboratively with users in the cloud and basically leverage all the accessibility and convenience of cloud computing. McNamara’s post available here, has a lot more detail on these features and other exciting functionality from the new Windows 10.  Its never been a better time to study online.

Hospitals, doctors, nurses and nursing assistants across the US, but particularly in the Northeast have been grappling with a surging epidemic of heroin overdoses in recent months. Health officials report that heroin overdose deaths in the United States nearly quadrupled between 2002 and 2013, driven by heroin’s more affordable cost than prescription opiate painkillers. According to a Reuters report, “the White House on Monday will announce a plan pairing law enforcement officials with public health workers in an effort to emphasize treatment rather than prosecution of addicts, the Washington Post said.” The ramifications of this new policy, focusing on treatment, will certainly be felt by those currently studying a nursing assistant program when they graduate and make their way into the healthcare workforce. The White House’s shift in policy from a punitive to a care-driven posture comports with the care-giving ethos inherent in all medical industry jobs. People, like those taking certified nursing assistant programs, who enter into this field to provide comfort and care to the afflicted, should applaud this new, more human approach to a nasty and intractable social problem. Studying to become one such care giver with the Allen School prepares a man or woman to fight the good fight against this deadly scourge.

Health officials investigating the increasing numbers of Legionnaire’s disease in the South Bronx have found more than 5 cooling towers at buildings in the affected area that test positive for the pathogen that causes the disease.  Experts in the NYC metro area are saying that the public should expect the numbers of the infected to climb in the next week or so.  Teams of medical investigators are working furiously to identify the source of the outbreak so that it can be contained.  This kind of information is always of interest to Allen School students working on their nursing assistant certifications. Legionnaire’s is a type of pneumonia and is spread through breathing of contaminated air and vapor.  According to Wikipedia, “Those with Legionnaires’ disease usually have fever, chills, and a cough, which may be dry or may produce sputum. Almost all with Legionnaires’ experience fever, while approximately half have cough with sputum, and one third cough up blood or bloody sputum. Some patients also have muscle aches, headache, tiredness, loss of appetite, loss of coordination (ataxia), or diarrhea and vomiting. Up to half of those with Legionnaires’ have gastrointestinal symptoms, and almost half have neurological symptoms, including confusion and impaired cognition.” For certified nursing assistants and other medical office staff, being able to recognize the symptoms may play a positive role in helping to contain the spread of this dangerous disease.  It is also important to realize that it can take 10 days for symptoms to appear after being exposed to the pathogen.  So Allen School alums in positions at doctors’ offices and hospitals around the NY Metro area – stay vigilant!    

One of the best things about studying medical billing and coding online with the Allen School is the unbelievable freedom that comes with it. You can pretty much take your studies with you wherever you go, as long as you have a reliable laptop and a good wireless signal.  That means, if your family is taking a trip to the beach, you needn’t necessarily stay behind to study.  Many beaches are well withing wireless broadband hot spots and you can set up in the shade of a beach umbrella and listen to the pounding of the surf as you study. (In fact we recently offered some other life hacks for studying from the seashore here.) If you opt to do this every once in a while, the following information is important.  If you use spray on sunscreens, researchers are warning that they may be dangerous.  According to a piece published by Yahoo! Beauty, the phthalates used as propellant in the spray sunscreens may be dangerous to inhale; especially for children.  Also, those sprays containing titanium dioxide should be avoided too as this compound is a known carcinogen. Dermatologists also warn about the spray sunblock, suggesting that the spray is easy to apply unevenly making it more likely you’ll be lacking coverage from damaging radiation.  An FDA spokesperson confirms the agency is currently re-evaluating these products to determine if these concerns are sufficient enough to warrant changing the approval of spray on sunscreens. So, if you’re going to take a study day at the beach (which this blogger HIGHLY recommends), perhaps play it safe and slather up with the good, old fashioned, tried-and-true sunscreen lotion.