Employee Spotlight: Alison Norris, Profee Coder
We’re proud to introduce our employee spotlight for the month of July. Meet Alison Norris, Profee Coder! Dive into her Q&A to learn more about her career journey and life outside of work.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work! What initially drew you to the healthcare industry, specifically medical coding?
I kind of “fell” into coding after landing a job working insurance follow up. Initially I had no idea what I was calling on and then curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to learn more about the CPT codes and it literally just snowballed from there and here I am 20+ years later!
How has your role evolved since you started in the industry?
Oh gosh, I remember when we still had paper records. Does that give you an idea of my age?
Tell us about a proud moment in your career (or life!)
When I successfully passed both my RHIT and CCS-P exams on the first attempt.
What do you enjoy most about your job? The puzzle each patient chart brings and trying to decipher why the patient is being seen
What does a typical workday look like for you? I typically start work very early (4am) because I like to get a lot of my work done before my family wakes up for the day. Don’t let that fool you though because I’m not a morning person!
What’s your favorite kind of chart / specialty to work on — and why? Probably pediatrics or family/internal med because there are so many different idiosyncrasies to remember
What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue a career in medical coding? Even though the majority of coding jobs seem to be remote these days, don’t expect to be remote right out of the gate. It literally took me almost 7 years!
What’s one tool, habit, or process that makes your workday smoother? 3M encoder
What do you like to do in your free time? What passions and/or hobbies do you enjoy?
I love camping. We have a summer home about 2 hours north of us and I absolutely love going there most weekends or long holiday weekends
What are you looking forward to most this summer?
We recently sold our house and will be moving mid July. I can’t wait until the chaos is over and we are settled once again!
What are you currently reading, watching, or listening to? I’m hooked on the show FBI
If you could instantly master one new skill, what would it be? Singing so that it didn’t sound as if I were tone deaf
What’s the most random or interesting thing on your desk right now? A painted rock
What’s the next place on your travel bucket list? Fiji
If you could swap jobs for a day, what would it be and why? A private investigator because I love solving the unknown. I always said I went into the wrong profession.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Don’t forget to check back each month to get to know our featured employee of the month! We love sharing the different stories and personalities behind OnPoint, and we hope you enjoy learning more about our team.