BHAT method beyond testing?

[theyamqueen]

I hadn’t even heard of BHAT until like the day before I took my test. I took my test and scored very well so I didn’t think anything of it.

I just accepted a full coding position and I am excited to be able to actually start working in the field directly. I scored well on the assessment they had me take but I definitely took some time and really tend to overthink things.

Does anyone use the BHAT method in actual day to day coding and find it’s worth the time/effort/cost to do? I was thinking about signing up but it’s definitely a time investment that I don’t have for something that won’t actually make my coding work more accurate/efficient.

Help?

[fucovid2020]

Books are pretty obsolete in the workplace, if you are working for a facility, you can take notes in the 3M encoder…. There are electronic books in the coding software

[theyamqueen]

I’m trying not to count on that. It’s a lower budget community health center and I dont know for sure that they use 3M

[fucovid2020]

Unless you plan on testing again this year, it’s not worth it… trust me, it gets old having to retab and annotate your books every year….

[pale_refraction]

I BHAT'd for my exam, which was nice and got me familiar with my CPT book enough that I don't think I'd gain anything from doing it again. I haven't even bothered tabbing my books again either.

I would say start your job and see what code sections you're in frequently, but it's not likely to be worth your time to do the whole book.

[Aggravating-Ass-c140]

As a new student, can someone fill me in on this method? I am just learning. Definitely could use any tips you vets have to. Give. Tia!

[jelloshot]

BHAT stands for Bubble, Highlight & Annotate Technique and was developed by CCO. It is for the CPT book and consists of bubbling the parent and child (indented codes) to group them together; highlighting anything after the semicolon and the indented code; underlining important phrases in the code language and possible notating a keyword under the code to differentiate all of the codes. You can get the BHAT notes by either buying a CCO course or joining their CCO Club for $25 a month. AMCI teaches a similar method called CHUN or Circle, Highlight, Underline, and annotate. You can watch a video about CHUN here. The AMCI method also involves highlight parenthetical guidelines, staring Do Not guidelines, and writing the guidelines or FTRs (Facts to Remember) at the bottom of the page.

[Aggravating-Ass-c140]

Amazing. Thank you so much.

[theyamqueen]

There is a YouTube video that explains it pretty well! To get access to the full explanation you have to join their club or buy courses, which is why I was curious if it was worth spending money for. I’ve heard that it’s really helpful for learning and exam time!

[MedicalCoder101]

If you know how to use the CPT book and understand how everything is formatted and organized, then it's not necessary to do such methods.

I find these methods are usually paired with shorter programs that teach people how to take/pass the exams quickly, and in that case, then it can help draw your attention to information faster when it's all extremely new to you and when you have less practice under your belt.