3DPO recently traveled to Pittsburgh, PA to attend the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association’s Coding and Billing Seminar. He made the journey with Amy Smith, Executive Assistant, and they met Mark Treasure, CP, BOCO at the event. Mark had driven up from the Cumberland office.  3DPO asked Amy to stop several times on the journey as he had not been to the area before and wanted to take in some sights.

Dankmeyer staff regularly attend events to see what’s new in the field and make sure we are up to date on what is expected of us as providers of care to our patients. The seminar specifically dealt with medical coding and billing, which is how we tell insurance companies what we have provided to a patient so we can be reimbursed accordingly. 

The night before the seminar started, 3DPO went over the itinerary for the day to make sure he was prepared. He made sure to set the alarm and went to bed early to be rested for a day of learning. These events are still new to him so he likes to be at his best when he is learning new things and meeting new people.

His first day at the seminar was a busy one. He saw lots of new faces and took notes full of good information to take back to Dankmeyer like the great intern he is! In the afternoon, he was able to attend a small group session of practitioners and see several types of knee and ankle braces while the group discussed how each was constructed and would be explained to the patient’s insurance company using medical codes.  3DPO enjoyed seeing braces in styles and shapes he had never seen before. Most of them much larger than he was, so Mark and Amy helped him hold them.

That evening, with so much learned, he was excited for the second and final day. To recharge before bed, he took time out before bed to review the Baltimore Ravens schedule for the season to see when they would be playing the Pittsburgh Steelers.

As the group reviewed policies for Medicare beneficiaries, he took notes to get further information and ask questions. Speakers from several companies and AOPA itself spoke for most of the day on policy and how it can be ever changing as technology evolves. 3DPO, Amy, and Mark compared notes on what each had learned that day.

Sadly this was only a two day event and at the end of the day, Amy and 3DPO readied to travel back to Baltimore and Mark made his way back to Cumberland, MD.  As Amy and 3DPO waited for Amy’s car, he noted a 3D printed bench, he was so very excited. As the journey would be a long drive, he offered to drive part of the way, but as he was unable to do so safely, he instead held onto the ticket for the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a very important job!

Once back in the office, he was happy to have and share this new information and see how it applied to his job and understand how everyone’s job fits together to make sure we take the best care of our patients.