Interview with Stanley M. Szelazek
CPC, CPC-H, CCP, CMC, CCAT, ACS-OR
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What is your name?
Stanley M. Szelazek, CPC, CPC-H, CCP, CMC, CCAT, ACS-OR
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Where are you from?
I was born and raised in Youngstown Ohio but relocated to South Florida in the early 80’s where I call home now is West Palm Beach , Florida
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What is your favorite activity?
My favorite activity is reading and researching and discovering new information that can assist us in this field from law to communications and personal and professional relationships.
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Do you have any hobbies?
I enjoy fishing, (folks who know me will be surprised to know this about me) and roller blading and since I travel more then 50% of the year, I love to be home.
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What credentials do you hold?
Certified Professional Coder CPC
Certified Professional coder Hospital CPC-H
Certified Compliance Professional CCP
Certified Medical Coder CMC
Certified Clinical Account Technician CCAT
Advanced Coding Specialist in Orthopaedics ACS-OR
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How did you get into the field of medical billing and coding?
I started in the medical field directly after college where I received my Bachelors of Science in Business Administration. I worked for Florida Medical Center , a hospital in Fort Lauderdale as the Executive Assistance to the CNO. It was there where I was introduced to Insurance and coding. I went back to school and took a diploma program in Coding and Reimbursement, much like is offered through CRN and went to work for a carrier. When I first applied to the carrier, they would not call me back, so I offered to work for them for 120 days for free. They took my offer and after the 120 days they hired me to work as their very first surgical review auditor who was not a RN or MD. There I grew to the Management position of Quality Assurance Team Manager. This will always be one of my most favorite work experiences because of the amazing training I was given and the opportunities I was offered based solely on my desire and drive and ability to learn and move ahead. I learned from the very beginning that not all carriers are created equal.
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What is your current position?
Currently I am a Senior Principal of a billing company, account ABILITY, your physicians practice billing company. We specialize in Ortho, Hand and Podiatry. We are so pleased to have CPC ’s, CPC -H’s, CCP’s, CCAT’s, RN’s, MD’s and Attorneys who work with us. We opened our doors in October 2004. www.myaccountability.org
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What do you find most exciting about this field?
The most exciting part of what we do for me is the win. When we know through our past experience and education that we have correctly applied our coding/reimbursement concepts and we are challenged on that and we take that challenge on, even if that means through State, Federal or private courts, and we win. We surprise our providers so often by the “win” where they would have thought it was simply never going to be paid.
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What do you find most frustrating?
The most frustrating part of what we do for me is when we have to engage in conversations with other business partners (payers for example) who do NOT know the correct way of reading, applying or paying for the medically indicated and appropriate procedures and services that we render. We find ourselves providing mini teleconferences with these folks to help them to understand the appropriate concepts which we are trying to communicate via a claim form. The education level of folks we have to deal with regarding what we do is often non existent. So yes the most frustrating part of what we do for me/us at our company is having to speak/deal with individuals who have no past experience or education or credentials to specialize them in our area of business and have to communicate with these individuals. There needs to be a standard for all professionals in this field to work in the field. There should be a starting point of knowledge from which to grow on and into. This would help all of us considerably.
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What do you feel the future holds for this field?
I am very optimistic, I think that the future holds a need for certified professionals in our field because with every passing month of every passing year the regulations become more and more cumbersome and our providers and facilities need to ensure legal, ethical and compliant reimbursement for every dime they are due. In order to receive this they will have to employ individuals with the education, knowledge and skill sets required to apply the appropriate information for each individual circumstance related to billing/coding and reimbursement.
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What would you tell someone just starting out in this field?
I would tell them that having your certification is just “a step” in the right direction for coding and reimbursement careers. There is much to learn and know and what separates the men from the boys (if you will) in this field is your resource documentation and your ability to find it and understand how it correctly applies to your situation. Someone’s opinion has no place as gospel in this field.
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If there was one thing you could change about this field what would it be?
The fact that I see coding positions advertised with no education or experience required. That our profession pays for the most part an inadequate salary due to the fact that the message is not getting across that these are the folks who drive the revenue for our carriers. The fact that we have offices who feel that they do NOT need a person with this skill set because “anyone can do this”. The fact that providers and facilities who think that anyone can do this are typically the ones with the worst A/R days and are loosing money. The fact that they don’t get that paying someone $7 bucks an hour will cost you $28 to fix what they did wrong because they did not know what to do or what to ask. The fact that we have news programs on hot topics every day like 20/20 and 60 minutes and nobody has ever alerted the public that our managed care system has become one of the most complex professional liability arenas to be working in today and that includes our coders.
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Who do you consider a mentor?
I have a few, but I consider Margie Vaught to be my mentor and also my best friend. She is always willing to give to help out anyone and she is an awesome educator with awesome recall.
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What is your affiliation with the CRN and how has that helped you?
I have been a gold facilitator for 7 years with CRN . CRN is a terrific forum for members from all over the country to ask questions and get expert assistance. CRN has been very useful for getting to the bottom of many issues and finding the resource documentation to support it.