Medical Coding

What is medical coding ?
Medical coding job involves reading medical records and abstracting codes from it for every medical condition and every treatment offered to the patient by the hospital, physician, or any health care professional.  Medical coders are not involved in direct patient care, but work in the hospital revenue cycle departments in plush offices and the office environment usually resembles like an IT company. Due to advancement in internet technology some medical coders get the opportunity to work remotely at their homes as remote coders. Medical coders work involve use of different softwares which will vary from company to company.

Do all the countries have medical coding?
Medical coding is widely used in US and Canada for reimbursement purpose, whereas in Europe and Australia have medical coding process, but only for statistical purposes. Many new countries have started  implementing medical coding process for reimbursement purpose like the middleast countries including Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, etc. China also started medical coding as a pilot process and may extend it fully. Efforts are on to develop international version of DRG by 3M corporation.

Does medical coding requires the knowledge of mathematics?
Practically speaking no mathematical knowledge is required for medical coders apart from some analytical skills.

What are the basic requirements to become a medical coder?
Basically people with medicine, nursing, pharmacy, life sciences, and medical transcriptionists are ideal candidates for medical coding, but there are people who neither had any of these backgrounds and are good coders now. There are people with MBA and engineering background into medical coding field now.  What is required is good knowledge of medical terminology and pathology. There are many online courses available to learn medical terminology online.

What is the future of medical coding?
Medical coding industry is here to stay and grow in the future. As the population in United States specially the baby boomers have reached their 60s, they will need more health care attention. Middle eastern and other countries are now entering into medical coding and will need experienced professionals. As the medical coding process evolves and with the improvement of technology, developing countries will adopt medical coding in their health care process. So career growth is sure for medical coders.

What type of training is required for medical coding?
In United States, there are numerous medical coding schools and also online courses available. One can go for one-two year diploma as a full time or opt for online training which one can complete flexibly in four months. Online courses in United States charge around $1500.

What after training?
Once you finish your training, your can either go for certification or you can look for job.

Will certification help in job search?
Certification will definitely help you in job search. Companies prefer certified coders over non certified coders.

What are my job prospect after training?
Frankly speaking, in the United States it has become difficult for newly trained people to get jobs as companies are preferring experienced people. Many people got trained into medical coding and then find it difficult to get a jobs in the United States, but in other countries you may soon get a job once you finished your course.

How is the career growth in medical coding ?
Medical coders usually start as trainee medical coders and are promoted to medical coders. Medical coders with three-five years can become teal leaders. Medical coders with eight-ten years can become project managers or  assistant managers. People with 10-15 years of experience will get positions of Coding managers and with around 20 years of experience will get a position of director.

How are the salaries in medical coding?
The salary of medical coding professionals depends upon locations,type of facility or company working for, certification, and education. According to 2008 AHIMA salary survey, for coders with the entry-level CCA credential, $37K is the average, while those with an RHIT who are coding earn closer to $53K, and those in the sample with an AHIMA mastery-level coding credential are earning more (CCS-P with $56K, and CCS with $58K).