Last month, I crashed on my bicycle, and needed sutures. I made three separate trips to the urgent care clinic (one for the inital suturing, one the next day to examine the sutures, and one a week later where a CNA removed them), which were all covered under a bundled CPT code. Patients (and physicians) should be aware of how services are bundled.

Do you think they’ll care?

Hi Lynn–

Thanks so much for clarifying. I was just making a more general statement regarding how little time is allotted to have some processes sink in/click–the idea that billing and coding are separate, etc.

Of course, knowledge re: specific CPTs, further complexity of the patient’s diagnosis in the language of CPT, will increase with experience of practitioner. Great point.

These seem like such basic questions-which one would think might be common knowledge to rising providers.

Not surprising that these concepts are foreign to med students unless they are actively seeking answers—time is hard to come by when you think about the rigor of study, though.

I am so glad you were able to have this experience.

Perhaps it is appropriate that she is learning to “buff the chart” so well and at such an early stage in her career. (reference to the classic book “The House of God” by Samuel Shem)