Certified Medical Coders

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.