The Texas Medical Association has a new voice at the national level to share the experiences of Texas physicians and to help find solutions to their coding and payment problems.
Director of Physician Payment Services, Carra Benson, has been appointed to AAPC’s National Advisory Board (NAB), where she will advise the organization on Texas physicians’ coding and billing challenges and practice management and compliance issues. AAPC, formerly known as the American Academy of Professional Coders, is a training and credentialing organization for the business of medicine that offers physicians and their practice staff certification in multiple areas of coding and billing, including in auditing, clinical documentation improvement, revenue cycle management, and practice management.
Ms. Benson has assisted TMA physicians with payment problems for over 12 years. That includes through the association’s Physician Payment Resource Center, which helps members resolve pressing insurance payment issues and helped TMA recover more than $3.8 million for Texas practices in 2023.
Gary Sheppard, chair of TMA’s Council on Socioeconomics, said Ms. Benson’s new role will “help Texas physicians” by giving voice to their billing and coding struggles at a national level and provide “a knowledge pipeline” for coding information to flow directly back to TMA members.
“In a similar way to how [physicians] have to explain medical terminology to our patients, Carra is here to explain coding and billing to physicians,” he said. “It makes physicians’ jobs easier when we have someone … on our side to share our frustrations about payment delays or excessive documentation requirements.”
In the past, TMA has partnered with AAPC to offer physicians education on coding and compliance during TMA’s annual TexMed conference. Ms. Benson’s three-year appointment will continue the two organizations’ missions to identify and advocate for solutions to physician payment issues and to educate physicians on best coding practices.
During her term, Ms. Benson will exchange coding knowledge between AAPC and Texas physicians, write articles for physicians and practice staff on coding compliance, and speak at local AAPC chapters and conferences. These events, attended by both health care professionals and coders, seek to disseminate best coding practices among physicians, practice staff, and medical coders.
Among other duties, members of AAPC’s NAB must:
- Be aware of updated coding rules and regulations and provide AAPC leadership with cutting edge information, such as emerging coding technologies or changes in evaluation and management guidelines;
- Work within an AAPC committee and as an organization liaison to create resources for medical coders, including national sponsored publications and educational programs that could be utilized by physicians or their practice staff, among others;
- Give advice to AAPC leadership on coding, billing, and compliance issues laying the foundation for how the organization will address and advise on physicians’ coding, billing, or payment concerns; and
- Edit, revise, and update AAPC educational products, including CME and other resources offered to physician practices.
“I am so honored that they chose me for this role,” Ms. Benson told Texas Medicine Today. “I can’t wait to start representing Texas physicians in this capacity.”
To speak directly with TMA billing and coding staff, visit TMA’s comprehensive Physician Payment Resource Center.
Alisa Pierce
Reporter, Division of Communications and Marketing
(512) 370-1469