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Medical coding specialists assign codes to patient
diagnoses and procedures. Coding transforms verbal and narrative
descriptions of disease, injury, and procedures into numerical
designations through the use of universally accepted coding systems.
Medical codes are used for reimbursement of health care services,
research, and medical statistics.
To perform this task, Medical Coding
Specialists must possess expertise in the ICD-9-CM coding system and the CPT procedural coding system. |
The Medical Coding Specialist is a diploma program designed to provide
entry-level personnel to perform abstracting and coding of medical
records. The graduates of this program will analyze the medical record
documentation to assign diagnostic and procedures codes. They will
provide information for the health care reimbursement process too. The
minimum requirement to undergo this program is graduation.
The course contents may differ varyingly from institute to institute but
the generalized course contents would comprise of :
Introduction to Computers
Interpersonal Communications
Disease Conditions
Anatomy and Physiology
Medical Terminology
Pharmacology
Keyboarding
Applied Medical Terminology
Coding and Reimbursement
Advanced Coding
Medical Coding Specialist Internship and more.
| A Medical Coding Specialist assists the Medical Coding Managers with
formal training programs. He has to assess claims and their
implementation. He has to conduct quality control studies of coded data
to assure compliance.
He also needs to develop preventive measures in response to
the analysis of claims denial data, identifying corrective
measures to resolve the denial problems and conflicting or
ambiguous or non-specific medical documentation. |
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He also audits coded data to assure compliance with government and
payer regulations. He also analyzes and
interprets complex patient records to identify and determine the amount
and nature of billable services. The essence inculcated in the Medical
Coding Specialist is confidentiality of financial and medical records. |
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