MPECS was formed by Jim Meeks, PA-C in 2000. Jim began teaching documentation and coding courses at the University of Utah Physician Assistant Program (UPAP) www.utah.edu/upap in 1995. Early in his career, he recognized the importance of understanding the process of documentation and coding and their impact on his success and the success of his employers. Realizing that his professional training provided little background or information on this vital aspect of daily practice, Jim developed an educational program that focuses on EVALUATION AND MANAGEMENT (E/M) coding which he first presented to students at the UPAP in 1995 and has continued to refine and update on a regular basis.
Soon thereafter, inquiries about coding began coming from practices where these students were doing rotations and practicing. Practice managers and providers were recognizing that these students had some fundamental skills in documentation and coding that were unique and refreshing.
Jim's work and training have always led him to approach things from the providers perspective. Throughout his career, he has attended numerous seminars and conferences on the subject and discovered that rarely were they taught by medical professionals, but more often by accountants or MBAs, and on occasion by an office manager or coding specialist. This was not necessarily bad, and a great deal of useful information was available in almost every case, but they lacked the unique perspective of a practicing health care provider. In Jim's opinion, that perspecitve is vital to the success of any medical practice.
Evaluation and Management coding as required by the federal and state governments as well as insurance companies is a complicated and sometimes confusing process, often subject to misinterpretation and misunderstanding which can lead to lost revenue and other problems in any medical practice. The creation of MPECS was a natural step in the process of organizing information into a logical format for students. The idea was to help them step into the modern medical practice with a basic understanding of the essential components and elements of documentation necessary to be productive employees as soon as possible. The result was the discovery that many practicing providers all around the country are not fully comfortable in their Evaluation and Management coding skills.
Jim has had the privelage of lecturing at conferences of the American College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP), Association of Family Practice Physician Assistants (AFPPA), California Association for Nurse Practitioners (CANP), the Society of Urology Nurses and Associates (SUNA), the Utah Academy of Physician Assistants and for other associations. Now too many to list here. In every case, comments were extremely positive and and participants expressed a desire for more information and indepth training. The concept of a comprehensive workshop was born during a roundtable discussion at one of these national conferences when somone was expressing their frustration with the complicated process of E/M coding and trying to understand various aspects of selecting the correct code for a given patient encounter.
A significant amount of time has been invested in the materials used in the MPECS documentation and coding workshop. Hours upon hours of refinement and review have been applied to the workbook and the POCKET CODER provided to all participants at the workshop as well as the presentation itself. No participant should come away from the workshop feeling that they didn't get full value for their investment.
Frequently, Jim is asked to consult in medical clinics and private practices. These consultations afford the opportunity to work closely with providers on a level that is much more productive and allows detailed discussion of coding issues that frequently present themselves in practice settings.
Jim is dedicated to the success of every medical practice and provider. MPECS is the vehicle through which he can help.
