Interview with Chris Felthauser
CPC, CPC-H, AAPC, PMCC Instructor, ASC-OH Advisor
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What is your name?
Chris Felthauser
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Where are you from?
Currently living in Eugene Oregon
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What is your favorite activity?
Cooking/entertaining
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Do you have any hobbies?
Cooking, whitewater rafting, camping, that sort of stuff.
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What credentials do you hold?
CPC and CPC-H Through the AAPC. I am also a PMCC instructor with the AAPC as well. Recently joined Board of Advanced Medical Coding and am an advisor on the Ophthalmology Specialty Board (ACS-OH).
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What organizations do you belong to and how have they helped your career?
AAPC of course, Board of Advanced Medical Coding.
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How did you get into the field of medical billing and coding?
Purely by accident, I went to school to study theater and was looking for a job when a friend who worked at a hospital told me they were looking for help…so I thought it would be a temporary part time thing and then found out I really like it, so almost 20 years later here I am.
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What is your current position?
Coding Consultant/Educator.
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What is one of your accomplishments in this field that you are most proud of?
I think the thing that most makes me proud, is that one student you get to during the course. Every once in a while, there’s one student you just know is going to be really great, and the look on their face as they are learning, when you can tell that this is going to be more than just a job them, they want more. That’s my favorite part.
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What do you find most exciting about this field?
The constant changes in coding requirements, and can also be the most frustrating.
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What do you find most frustrating?
See above :-).
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What do you feel the future holds for this field?
Growth. I believe that coding is only going to grow by leaps and bounds. More education as well, I think coders are going to need more than a set of credentials to make them a coder.
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What would you tell someone just starting out in this field?
Don’t make it about the credentials; make it about what you can do.
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If there was one thing you could change about this field what would it be?
I would make the standards a little higher. I’ve seen to many people who have been credentialed, but can’t seem to answer some of the most basic questions. I think that not only should we have to maintain CEU’s (which I think sometimes are to easy to get), but that we should also have to re-test every five years.
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Who do you consider a mentor?
I’m not sure that I have a “mentor”, however, there are a few people out there that I highly respect and have think they have made this field a very exciting place to be. One person who made me decide that I wanted to become an instructor was Bill Dacy. After taking one of his courses, I decided that’s something I wanted to do. There are so many people in different fields that I go to for different pieces of advice, Jo Ann Steigerwald, Sue Vicchirrili, Mary Pat Johnson, Barbara Cobuzzi, Margie Vaught, Susan Volgerberger, Marvel Hammer…these are just a few names off the top of my head, there are so many out there that truly excel in this field and I could take a whole page naming names.
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What is your favorite billing or coding product?
(We’re trying to link to products available on the CRN Shoppe http://www.crnshoppe.com) I’m not sure I have one. I’m an old-fashioned guy, I like to have my books in front of me. I like the paper.
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What is your affiliation with the CRN and how has that helped you?
I joined the CRN listserve a while back, then was absent for a while, then came back on and it has allowed me to network with others in the same field. It is sound a great sounding board, and even a place to get advice. I have met some great people here and have found this group to be more helpful to me than any newsletter I currently receive (although I really enjoy the newsletters as well).