Medical Coding and Career Opportunities.
Let’s start with a simple question about medical coding: Why do we code medical reports? Wouldn’t it be enough to list the symptoms, diagnoses, and procedures, send them to an insurance company, and wait to hear which services will be reimbursed?
To answer that, we have to look at the massive amount of data that every patient visit entails. If you go into the doctor with a sore throat, and present the doctor with symptoms like a fever, sore throat, and enlarged lymph nodes, these will be recorded, along with the procedures the doctor performs and the medicine the doctor prescribes.In a straightforward case like this, the doctor will only officially report his diagnosis, but that still means the portion of that report that will be coded contains a diagnosis, a procedure, and a prescription
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is medical coding and medical billing?
A. Medical coders:are responsible for analyzing patient records and then assigning the right procedure code or diagnosis code for the services the patient received. Accurate coding is important, because it is used in patients’ insurance claims;
- Use CPT, or Current Procedural Terminology, to select the correct codes for patient procedures;
- Use ICD terminology, or International Classification of Diseases, in order to select the right diagnosis codes for patients’ diagnoses;
- Medical billers:enter the medical codes into special billing software in order to submit insurance claims to the insurance companies;
- Are responsible for understanding insurance procedures so that claims can be submitted accurately often work directly with patients to obtain their insurance information. They may also be responsible for explaining charges to patients, and helping them to understand their insurance benefits;
2. Who are eligible for training programs?
A. Students with life science background for medical coding and any students who have cleared their 12th examination can apply for medical billing.
3. What is the salary for medical coders and billers?
A. Starting salary of medical coders and billers is 10,000 and more entirely depends on their performance during training and also at the time of interview.
4. Which companies offers employment in Coding and billing?
A. There are ample of organizations offering employment in India and abroad. Some of the renowned once in India are: Gebbs Healthcare : Navi Mumbai, Veldos solutions: Mumbai, Ajuba solutions: Chennai, Omega healthcare: Bangalore, Chennai, Trichy, Hinduja global solutions: Bangalore. Vee technologies: Bangalore and Trichy, United health groups: Hyderabad and Bangalore.
5. Any certification needed for coding and billing?
A. Yes, Certified Professional coder (CPC) certification for medical coding and Certifying Board of the American Medical Billing Association (CBAMBA) for medical billing.
6. What is the cost for certification exam?
A. $125 for membership and $500 for exam. Total: $625
7. What is the pattern and duration of the exam?
A. CPC exam consists of 150 questions. Duration 5 hours 40 minutes. Passing marks is 70%.
8. What is the syllabus for the exam?
A. This is the open book exam includes Human anatomy, ICD10, CPT and HCPCS questions.
9. What is ICD10, CPT and HCPCS?
A. ICD10: ICD-10 is the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), a medical classification list by the World Health Organization (WHO). It contains codes for diseases, signs and symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or diseases.The code set allows more than 14,400 different codes and permits the tracking of many new diagnoses. The codes can be expanded to over 16,000 codes by using optional sub-classifications. The detail reported by ICD can be further increased, with a simplified multi-axial approach, by using codes meant to be reported in a separate data field[citation needed.
CPT: The Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code set is a medical code set maintained by the American Medical Association through the CPT Editorial Panel.The CPT code set (copyright protected by the AMA) describes medical, surgical, and diagnostic services and is designed to communicate uniform information about medical services and procedures among physicians, coders, patients, accreditation organizations, and payers for administrative, financial, and analytical purposes.
HCPCS: The Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS, often pronounced by its acronym as "hick picks") is a set of health care procedure codes based on the American Medical Association's Current Procedural Terminology (CPT).
10. What does a Medical coder do?
A. It takes a good deal of education and training to become a skilled medical coder. To begin, coders must have a thorough knowledge of anatomy and medical terminology. It is also important to become familiar with different types of insurance plans, regulations, compliance, and the coding community’s three critical resource books: CPT®, HCPCS Level II and ICD-9-CM along with their corresponding codes and guidelines.
Posts
