Interview with Cyndee Weston
CMRS
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What is your name?
Cyndee Weston
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Where are you from?
Davis , Oklahoma
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What is your favorite activity?
I would have to say hanging out with family and friends at the lake.
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Do you have any hobbies?
I really don’t have time for any hobbies. If I do have extra time, I like to spend it playing with my Grandson or I read anything that is available.
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What credentials do you hold?
CMRS – Certified Medical Reimbursement Specialist.
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What organizations do you belong to and how have they helped your career?
I am the director of the American Medical Billing Association (AMBA) and I am involved in several committees and special projects related to the Association. Working with the members of AMBA has been allowed me to network with people and businesses from across the nation to share information and ideas. I am also a member of several other industry organizations and I subscribe to dozens of Internet resources.
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How did you get into the field of medical billing and coding?
Early on in my career, I worked as a claims examiner and throughout that part of my life, I worked for a couple of major insurance companies as well as a small third party administrator. We didn’t see things from the same view. I liked to pay everything I could, but the carriers wanted to deny everything they could. And, I got very frustrated with policy interpretations and carrier mentality. To the company, it was just business, but to me, there were people behind the policy. Often times, the insured’s were so negatively affected by questionable interpretive decisions that I found it deeply troubling to have to deny coverage for so many illnesses.
Then in the late eighties, I began working in a special new unit paying (NEIC) electronic claims. I was so fascinated by them because I didn’t have to key in all that data from the claim forms. They made my job so much easier and the more claims I processed, the more I realized how important this was for the industry. One day I met an individual that introduced me to his electronic claims billing program. After having seen all the mistakes that providers made on their claims, and with the early realization that electronic claims were the future, I was convinced that I could be both a patient’s advocate and help doctors get paid quicker. That eventually led me to start my own medical billing business. I’ve never regretted it.
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What is your current position?
Executive Director, AMBA
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What is one of your accomplishments in this field that you are most proud of?
After working several years at providing billing services, I realized there was a huge need for billers to be able to share information and ideas. Back in the day, that was through bulletin board systems. When the Internet began to evolve, my contacts and resources grew enormously and that is when I began to organize the Association. AMBA has since grown by leaps and bounds and today; I devote all of my time to working with small billers to bring them the educational resources and networking opportunities they require to operate ethically and successfully. I would have to say that meeting so many great people through AMBA and bringing them together is probably THE most rewarding thing I have done.
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What do you find most exciting about this field?
I have found that there is constantly something to learn. It’s a challenge every single day. I love billing and all that goes with it and if it ever gets boring, that’s when it will be time for me to make a change.
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What do you find most frustrating?
There are a couple of major frustrations for me – I’m painfully reminded day in and day out of how insurance companies bilk millions of people out of their hard earned money, only to pay doctors less while decreasing coverage and increasing premiums and requirements. It’s like they say – the ones with all the money get to make all the rules.
My other big frustration is that our Government not only sets an example for offshore outsourcing of jobs, but they fail to regulate all of the private health and financial information being freely distributed to people in third world countries where no court of law would ever prosecute or have jurisdiction regarding improper and or wrongful disclosures. I couldn’t get a printout of the prescriptions filled for my 18 year old daughter who is on my insurance policy for tax purposes, but it’s okay for my PHI to be sent to another country for processing. It just doesn’t make sense.
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What do you feel the future holds for this field?
I think insurance carriers will continue to find more ways to pay doctors less while requiring them to provide better care and face new requirements. The skill level necessary to get claims paid will rise even higher and the providers that don’t work smarter are going to face dire consequences. Overall, I think we will see a big decrease in the number of sole practitioners. Small providers simply will not be able to remain competitive in the services they provide unless they tighten their belts, become more efficient at collecting money and make better use of technology.
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What would you tell someone just starting out in this field?
If you do a good job, there will always be work. Anyone can do a bad job and there are plenty of those people out here. That means you have to work hard at learning because things change all the time in this industry and there is plenty to learn. It’s not easy, but with a solid knowledge foundation, good principles and strong ethics and a lot of dedication, medical billing can be very rewarding.
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If there was one thing you could change about this field what would it be?
I would deregulate the monopoly that the AMA has on CPT codes. A Monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic competition for the good or service that they provide and a lack of viable substitute goods. It’s a situation where there is only one provider of a kind of product or service. Our entire industry uses this universal code set – payers, providers and billers alike. It is difficult even to teach or be protected under fair use if you’re teaching a comprehensive course that covers more than a few codes. The licensing requirements for use of CPT codes in training materials are difficult to comply with, especially for small businesses. CMS has accepted, endorsed and required the use of CPT (royalty-free since 1983) because they don’t have a better system. What amazes me is that we don’t use CPT codes due to customer satisfaction – we use them because we have to and there is little else that can be done.
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Who do you consider a mentor?
Lots of people, actually. Because there is wide-spread availability of information on email lists, I look to the experts that volunteer their time and knowledge on a daily basis – you all know who you are and I cannot thank you enough.
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What is your favorite billing or coding product?
The E&M slide rules that Don Self sells are the best and easiest to use product I’ve seen.
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What is your affiliation with the CRN and how has that helped you?
Both Laureen and Barbara have provided excellent educational resources of information through the CRN. They are both great trainers/speakers and are always encouraged and welcomed back to AMBA conferences by popular demand. Our members have told us they feel that Laureen’s CPC Prep courses have made all the difference in their passing the CPC exam. In all, I would say that the CRN has made a great educational difference in many ways for a lot of people.
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Provide any contact information you are comfortable with:
- Cyndee Weston can be reached at (580) 622-2624 or via email at cyndeew@brightok.net