NEWS
Louisiana Tech senior Angie Knobloch is naturally funny.
And fairly blunt.
She felt as a young girl that the medical field was not for her because “blood and guts weren’t my thing,” she said.
Turns out there was a place for her in the medical field after all, one that fit her vision and placed this diehard New Orleans Saints fan in high demand.
This summer, she’s scheduled to graduate from Tech with her degree, earned online, in Health Informatics and Information Management.
“I wouldn’t have made it this far without the exceptional teachers and the flexibility of the online curriculum,” said Knobloch, a wife and mom of three who lives in her hometown of Slidell and works full-time as part of the Ochsner Medical Center team. “I am blessed to have wonderful advisors and mentors like Mrs. (Jan) Fuller and Mrs. (Michelle) Martin, who I value greatly.”
Because as a high school senior she knew only of the clinical side of medicine, she pursued and earned her associate’s degree in accounting in college and landed her first medical office job at a four-physician family practice clinic. During that time, she found out there was more to medicine than just the clinical side.
“I soon fell in love with the administrative side of the medical field, specifically medical coding,” she said. “Coding” is a sort of documentation bridge between the patient and doctor that tracks diagnosis, procedures, lab results, complete medical services, and even a physician’s notes.
“I worked my way up at different physician practices, going from assistant manager in one clinic to running an entire practice for a provider in another clinic,” she said. “I learned everything from checking patients in and out to coding and billing claims and everything in between.”
Knobloch earned three certifications along the way — Certified Professional Coder (CPC), Certified Evaluation and Management Coder (CEMC), and Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) — through the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) and the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). Then seven years ago, she began working for a hospital in the coding department and decided she wanted to further her education and earn her Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) certification and her bachelor’s degree.
“After extensive research, I chose Louisiana Tech because I felt Tech had the best online program and would best prepare me for the difficult RHIA exam,” Knobloch said. “For the past 18 months, I’ve managed to work a full-time job — which included a promotion to a supervisor role — and take care of my family, which consists of my husband, three children, two dogs, and several birds; it can sound like a zoo sometimes. But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel!
“It’s definitely been a challenge,” she said, “but I have definitely made the correct choice in Louisiana Tech.”