Medical coding can
be referred to as a step of the medical billing process. It is a very
integral part of medical billing and cannot be ignored at all. This
process is used when patient receives professional health care in a
hospital or a physician’s office. Other medical services include
ambulance, out- patient services and other paramedic services. The
medical coder abstracts all the information from the assignments,
documents and the medical records. He assigns appropriate codes to
each of the services availed by the patient. He then creates a claim
which is to be paid by the client or the patient.
The professionals who
execute this process are called as certified medical coders.
They are well trained and know everything about this important
process. It must be understood that coding is not the same as medical
billing. Both these processes complement each other but they aren’t
the same. The medical coder and the biller might be the same person,
but the processes are different from each other. The medical coder is
mainly responsible for assigning appropriate codes to each of the
services and makes the calculations based on the codes. In order to
successfully accomplish this the coder must be well qualified and
must have a very deep knowledge on the various medical services that
are offered both the in- patients and also out- patients.
Medical terminology and
anatomy are the two areas in which a medical coder must be extremely
well- versed at. The various types of insurance plans, compliances
and other regulatory frameworks must also be understood and studied
thoroughly by the medical coder. Apart from the medical knowledge,
the medical coder must gain knowledge and also acquire certificate
courses on the medical codes that must be used during the job. Thus,
the coder must have practical, theoretical and also technical
knowledge.
The approximate number of
medical professionals associated with the AAPC is 128,000 right now.
This professional association provides various opportunities to its
registered members and helps them to get well- versed in various
medical coding and billing processes. This has resulted in a lot of
positive outcomes to the healthcare industry. Job search and career
counselling are other services provided by this extraordinary
professional association. The members can learn a lot and gain a very
high amount of knowledge on the area of their interest. They also
enjoy a huge amount of savings because they can gain access to
various discounts offered by the AAPC.
