Interview with Denese Foltz
CPODCS
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What is your name?
Denese Foltz, CPC
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Where are you from?
North of Seattle, WA.
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What is your favorite activity?
Helping the Underdog when possible.
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Do you have any hobbies?
I’m not sure if golf counts as a hobby or a sad form of discipline to remind me on how one is to be humbled. I’m also interested in genealogy and in my limited spare time I work on our family tree.
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What credentials do you hold?
CPODCS (Certified Podiatry Coding Specialist)
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What organizations do you belong to and how have they helped your career?
I am a member of PAHCS (Professional Association of Healthcare Coding Specialists); they are the sister company of PAHCOM. Since I have worked for many specialties over the years, I was happy to come across this organization which is geared for specialty groups and the first that I saw that certified for Podiatry of which I had been involved in for over 5 years at that time. Their conferences have provided quality speakers and offered resources above and beyond what I had already. I also met some great people that I can count on for support when I need it.
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How did you get into the field of medical billing and coding?
I started as a part-time biller 22 years ago in the south side of Chicago where I was born and raised. I worked for a large clinic for my first 8 years, where of course I went full time within the 1st year. I finally found my passion in life. I also worked for billing services, small and large practices in Pittsburgh and here in WA as well. This is when I found out about listservs and what great resources they are and also where I realized that I needed to get myself certified as a coder, even though I knew it was not a requirement but more a recognition of worth to those in the medical billing arena. Iif I wanted to be taken seriously I needed to take that step.
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What is your current position?
I teach Medical Billing and Coding at a local college and I own a Medical Billing business.
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What is one of your accomplishments in this field that you are most proud of?
Passing my certification exam but also I had helped my 89 year old neighbor get back over $1500 from a provider who billed her for cash instead of billing her care onto Medicare and/or her secondary.
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What do you find most exciting about this field?
That I can make a difference just by keeping myself current which we all know is very difficult in this ever changing field. I’m glad I had started my career prior to HMO’s, PPO’s and even computers because I have been able to see how and why things have changed over the years and hopefully make enough sense of it all when explaining some of it to my students where appropriate.
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What do you find most frustrating?
When I see someone in my same field with the power to make or break a provider and/or practice and they abuse that power. When they cross that imaginary line (that most of us have faced ourselves many times) by intentionally being negligent in their duties of protecting the profits of their providers and slacking in customer service and/or patient care. Also, providers who choose to ignore those of us who are trying to help them get the money that is owed to them and instead allow their egos to feel threatened, perceiving us as the hired help trying to “tell them what to do” and not seeing our good intentions instead.
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What do you feel the future holds for this field?
Job security.
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What would you tell someone just starting out in this field?
Maintain your integrity through thick and thin. You will always be learning. If you ever think you know it all, that’s when it’s time to move on to something else.
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If there was one thing you could change about this field what would it be?
Put out an official and final edition of the “no myths” version on HIPAA.
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Who do you consider a mentor?
I can’t really say one person but I can say that I have learned a lot from many of CRN’s experts. I can usually rely on the information they are giving to all of us. I don’t seem to find myself second guessing their responses too often and that is a comfort.
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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) Intelicode offers a 30 day free trial period and so I was impressed with them and the product but I haven’t seen anything else that I could compare it with or to. I like Don Self’s Coding tool also.
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What is your affiliation with the CRN and how has that helped you?
I receive the listservs and many other CRN online E-Newsletters.