Like you, I am not involved in daily operations. However, I believe it is important that I am aware of day-to-day activities, so I make a conscious effort to accompany safety personnel on their periodic walkthroughs of our facilities and I visit patient care areas to talk with the clinical staff. As for knowing clinical coding, I have not found that skill essential to my job. Coding is a very complicated, technical function that requires substantial training. My training is in the law. I have picked up some of the fundamentals of coding while in this position, but I would never feel qualified to do that work myself. Some compliance officers become certified coders in order to better understand the process, but I feel comfortable relying on the coding experts in the health information management department and on my compliance audit team, one of whom is a former coder, to let me know when there are problems. In my opinion, your focus on analyzing questionable practices and taking corrective actions is a better use of your energies than learning the details of coding.
