Dr. Tray Dunaway holds a BS with distinction from Duke University where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude. He received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania and his post-graduate work in general surgery was completed at the University of Virginia and the University of South Alabama. He is a board certified surgeon and a Fellow of the American College of Surgery. He started a solo practice in Camden, South Carolina in 1986 and added two partners over the next six years. He later merged his practice to become a founding and principle partner in a multi-specialty practice.
Growing increasingly frustrated with physician loss of autonomy, diminished professional respect and reduced reimbursement in the 1990's, he attended a physician documentation/coding seminar in 1995. After suffering through two days of "coding education" Dr. Dunaway decided: (1) he had no interest in becoming a coder and (2) he needed a simple way to approach the complexities of E&M coding and documentation. He created a physician friendly, clinically oriented methodology that would become known as Risk Based Coding. Best of all, it required no “coding knowledge” for physicians who also wanted to improve documentation and coding accuracy but didn't want to become coders either.
In 1997, Dr. Dunaway published his Risk Based Coding methodology in Pocket Guide to Clinical Coding. Asked to speak on "coding" by the South Carolina Surgical Society, this led to a series of engagements and he started speaking professionally. His animated contrarian physician perspective coupled with irreverent humor backed up with a healthcare insider’s knowledge soon made him an in-demand speaker and he immediately attained professional membership status in the National Speakers Association. Dr. Dunaway is currently the only physician to hold the highest earned award of the National Speakers Association, the CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) designation, and the first ever surgeon to hold this distinction. Other coding aids and books using the Risk Based Coding methodology were created and eventually evolved to become Dr. Dunaway’s Risk Based Coding System. |
