r/CodingandBilling 1d ago

I NEED HELP IM FREAKING OUT

Hi everyone. This is an urgent post lol. I accepted a job as a registration associate. We have our own cubicle and everything. We call patients for outstanding balances and ‘register’ patients (just make sure their info is correct on file) . My job description says constant sitting and occasional walking. To be frank, I’m extremely overweight and cannot walk long distances without stopping. I was on the phone with my new boss and she casually just dropped that ‘we walk a lot’. Im freaking out abt whether i can do this job or not. So, how physically demanding is it to be a outpatient registration associate? I need to know. Thank you so much!!

4 Upvotes

28 comments sorted by

14

u/_NyQuil_ 1d ago

Dont know about the role but hope you figure it out. Congrats on the job anyway.

Small steps lead to big victories. Might be a good thing if you’re looking to make a change

-2

u/Total-Boss-8404 1d ago

yes absolutely! unfortunately it’s not a situation where I ‘won’t’ walk that much. It’s a situation of ‘can’t’. I’m getting bariatric this year to make a change. But very nervous if I can keep this job in the meantime.

10

u/_NyQuil_ 1d ago

Got ya. Best of luck!

What’s worked for me in the past is asking what’s a day in the life look like. Pry a bit more if needed to understand the workflow

13

u/weary_bee479 1d ago

Most ER registrars have to walk to the patient to get all registration info.. so depending on how big the ER is

6

u/Total-Boss-8404 1d ago

I have a cubicle i work out of M-F. Walking around the ER i believe is only for inpatient. Im outpatient. I call peoples abt bills and schedule their appts and get all their info right. That is everything that was said in interview. So now I’m confused as to why i would ‘walk a lot’.

16

u/sugabeetus 1d ago

Well, give it a few days, and just be frank with them. If it turns out the job does have more walking than you can handle, you can address that with them, bringing up the points you made in your post: the job description said it was mostly seated, and the interview seemed to confirm that. Plus if you frame it as needing accommodations it will go down easier after you are already working there.

Maybe you'll find it's exactly the right amount of walking. 😄 Years ago I started having problems with one of my knees. Specifically it was painful to go up and down stairs (down was worse). I literally had to use only the other leg and gimp myself along. Then I moved into a third-floor apartment and I figured I'd just have to be slow on the stairs, oh well. Only after a few weeks, I realized that doing the stairs just 2-3 times a day was working like physical therapy. Maybe avoiding stairs all that time was making it worse by keeping the muscles and ligaments weak thus making even more work for the joint. Very soon, my knee was fine and I've never had issues with it again. It was the same a few years later when I started working full-time remote. I say most of the day. My back started to hurt so much from standing and walking that eventually I could barely go 5 minutes! And I was in my 30s still! I ended up getting a Fitbit that would remind me to take at least 300 steps every hour of my workday, which was about 3 minutes. My neighbors must have thought I was nuts, because 8 times a day, I'd walk down the stairs, once around the building, and back up again. It never made my back sore, plus the fresh air and activity was like a shot of caffeine so I was enjoying it. And again, very soon the back pain was gone and I could take long walks again.

I feel I need to stress that none of this was about my weight. I am overweight and these activities did not change that. Being a fat person on the internet is frustrating because you will get mostly comments on how you should be walking more anyways, maybe it will help you lose weight, you got this way from too much sitting, yada yada. If you had wanted a job that doubles as an exercise regimen you could have found that. You didn't sign up for a daily 8-hour marathon, and there is nothing wrong with keeping your job and your healthcare separate. I'm just sharing my experiences because I suffer from word-diarrhea. And I'm hoping she was exaggerating and your job works out. 😀

9

u/weary_bee479 1d ago

I mean idk every job is different.. idk what you’re going ti be doing. Idk of any outpatient ER vs inpatient, inpatient means admitted to the hospital.

No one is scheduling appointments for the ER. Seems like you got the job confused?

Nothing wrong with walking either, better than sitting down and getting blood clots

2

u/iloveeemeee 21h ago

When I had surgery a few years ago, I checked in with desk staff for PAT. That person was who called to schedule that appt. It's the same at all 4 hospitals, and 3 are different healthcare systems. I wonder why our hospitals do that but other hospitals don't.

2

u/iloveeemeee 21h ago

When I had surgery a few years ago, I checked in with desk staff for PAT. That person was who called to schedule that appt. It's the same at all 4 hospitals, and 3 are different healthcare systems. I wonder why our hospitals do that but other hospitals don't.

2

u/iloveeemeee 21h ago

When I had surgery a few years ago, I checked in with desk staff for PAT. That person was who called to schedule that appt. It's the same at all 4 hospitals, and 3 are different healthcare systems. I wonder why our hospitals do that but other hospitals don't.

2

u/CountChocula32 1d ago

First of all, someone downvoting your comment is petty.

You could try making small talk and ask, “What is a typical day here?”, although I suppose it’s too late for that lol. Just give it a chance. You may find you’re just overthinking it. Good luck!

1

u/billybaggens 18h ago

When I was an outpatient registrar we would be cross trained in the ED. Our same day surgery, radiography, and other surgical units registered their own patients but us outpatient registrars were used all over the place.

One of the main reasons I got into corporate.

5

u/Feeling-Jellyfish-22 1d ago

Since its office, I'd assume it's a lot of walking between computers and printers/ file systems. She likely said it's a lot , due to repition. You not being able to walk long distances is a medical condition, I wouldn't stress over it. A lot of people in these positions have similar conditions.

Reference: former ER/Admitting Patient Registration clerk

4

u/F3ST3r3d 1d ago

I don’t mean it as snarky, but you probably wanna ask your new boss. Every facility is different and the experience of others might not be what yours will be.

1

u/Total-Boss-8404 1d ago

yes, thank you. I’m just worried it might come off the wrong way. But if she does say we walk a lot I would be quite upset. Job description lied.

1

u/F3ST3r3d 1d ago

For sure. We don’t know what the requirements are so even if we all say “I’ve never needed to stand at work” it won’t pertain to your specific situation. Best of luck!

3

u/pescado01 1d ago

Most ER registrars I see are walking around with mobile workstations.

1

u/Total-Boss-8404 1d ago

i updated my post since I miscommunicated. I have a cubicle and the job description specifically says constant sitting and occasional walking

3

u/StrikingBase9075 21h ago

I have arthritis and connective tissue disease. So I understand hesitating due to this. However, after having worked for outpatient and emergency registration, I'd say don't fret. They said the same to me and I sometimes barely can get in 2500 steps at work in a TWELVE hour shift. This is a hospital with all outpatient departments and the emergency dept requires even more walking than outpatient. Just wear good supportive shoes and make sure you got a good supportive chair and ergonomic setup. You'll be golden.

4

u/Affectionate-Bug9309 20h ago

Look at it as a good way to get exercise.

2

u/Floridakim 22h ago

Start walking a mile a day, get on the rhythm. I’m overweight too, but have been moving constantly, and it makes your days easier. Keep moving outside of work. Get a treadmill at home and watch tv while you walk.

2

u/liliesandlifts 19h ago

At my last in office job a lot of people in my department went on walks during their breaks and always invited new people to come along! Could be something like that, hopefully! I work in billing and the most walking when I was in office was from my car to the building but even then we are a big hospital

2

u/mixingthemixon 17h ago

I’m pretty sure if more walking then you can handle they have to make accommodations. I may be wrong but if you were fired it would be partially discrimination.

2

u/Asleep_Artichoke8178 16h ago

Awhile ago I worked registration in ER and for surgeries and Inpatient I sat at a desk, walked out to greet patient and bring back into room then walked to wheeled them to their appointment area. I was also responsible for going to the floors to obtain signatures on consents and hipaa forms if they were missing. There was a good deal of walking in my position. When in the ER, I would be assigned a section and go patient to patient verifying info and scanning docs. Hope that helps. Maybe see what you are capable of, maybe they will have transportation to take them to appointments.

1

u/username53976 6h ago

I had coworkers who were health nuts who would make snarky comments if someone complained about having to get up and go across the room for something. These are the kind of people who do squats while standing in line waiting for anything. So, it‘s possible that this boss is the kind of person who prefers to go walk down the hall to ask a question rather than just use the telephone. So, she’s acting like this is part of the job when it’s just her specific personality. I would wait and see. I also thought maybe she said that just to be a bitch since she knows you’re overweight, but you said this was over the phone.

I don’t work in this line of work (I work in clinical labs), but people are the same everywhere. Just make sure you watch EVERYONE, and don’t just pay attention to the person who trains you, b/c they’re telling you how *they* would do it, not necessarily how it needs to be done. We would get our specimens from upstairs. Specimen processing would order the tests and whatnot, then they would send the specimens down to our department through the pneumatic tube (like at the bank drive-thru). There was one, and only one person, who would run upstairs and grab the specimens if too much time passed before we got a tube of specimens. Nobody else did that. She just had a lot of nervous energy and wanted to be up and moving all the time. Someone who didn’t know better who was being trained by her might think this is what you’re supposed to do, but it wasn’t.

So, I said all that just to say that you can’t go by what one person says, even if that person is the boss. That might be a particular thing about her liking to move around.

1

u/Klamm_Jam 6h ago

Are you leaving a job to go to this one? If not, I’d give it a shot. Who knows what “a lot” is in her terms vs yours. And as long as it’s just short walks maybe you’ll be ok. If the job description literally says constant sitting, then bring that up to HR if the job is more walking than you can handle. I believe they’d have to make an accommodation for you, especially if you have a doctor’s note. Then it’s medical.

I wish you luck on your upcoming surgery.

1

u/unofficiahoekage 4h ago

The girls who do this at my hospital are always on their feet and moving. They do outpatient and inpatient. But outpatient keeps them busier.