A Visual Guide to Medical Coding
A Visual Guide to Medical Coding
Overview
Number of Medical Coders:
184,740
Percentage Increase 2012-2022:
22% (much faster than average)
Mean Annual Wage: $38,860
10th percentile:$23,340
25th percentile:$28,250
Median: $35,900
75th percentile: $46,640
90th percentile: $59,160
Largest Employment Locations:
[numbers of medical coders at the following locations]
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals: 66,860
Offices of Physicians: 39,090
Nursing Care Facilities: 12,690
Outpatient Care Centers: 7,160
Management of Companies and Enterprises: 5,290
By State:
[number of medical record technicians by state]
100-1,070: ID, MT, WY, SD, ND, VT, NH, RI, DE, AK, HI
1,140-2,360: NV, UT, CO, NM, NE, KS, AR, IA, WV, NJ, CT, ME
2,610-4,140: OR, OK, MN, WI, MI, IN, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, VA, MD
4,450-17,290: WA, CA, AZ, TV, MO, IL, TN, KY, FL, NC, OH,PA, NY, MA
Medical Coding, the Basics
There are three main types of certified medical coders:
Certified Professional Medical Auditor
Certified Professional Compliance Officer
Certified Physician Practice Manager
Medical Coding Activities
What medical coders do:
Coders…
create
audit
revise and re-file denied claims
educate health care providers
It starts with…
Patient data including symptoms, treatments, and diagnoses is filed.
–>Medical coders abstract information from this documentation and assign appropriate codes
—–>They check records like doctor’s notes, ordered lab tests, imaging studies, and prescription requests
Codes are used to create a claim that will be paid by commercial payer, patient, or CMS
Sidenote: without the appropriate codes, insurance companies won’t pay for care, or will pay too little
Workflow:
Retrieve records
Pre-coding check for correctness of data
Review records and assign appropriate Procedure (CPT) and Diagnosis Codes (ICD)
Complete audit of the coded document by QA Team
Batch completion report sent to client
Receive feedback from client
How to Become a Medical Coder
Required Education:[3]
1.) Associate’s degree in health information technology
Including–
Medical record coding
Medical coding systems
Medical Terminology and Anatomy
2.) Certification
Including–
Certified Professional Coder
CPC-Outpatient Hospital
CPC-Payer
Curriculum:
Anatomy and Physiology
Medical Terminology
Types of Insurance Plans
Regulations
Compliance
Three critical coding resource books:
CPT
HCPCS Level II
ICD-9_CM
As of October 1, 2015, there will be more than 144,000 codes that may be applied to patient “stories”
Medical coders provide a critical link between health care providers who are busy caring for patients, and patient insurance companies. Ensuring patient care “stories” are passed to insurance providers in ways they will honor.
Citations:
- http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/medical-records-and-health-information-technicians.htm
- http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes292071.htm
- http://learn.org/articles/What_Education_is_Required_to_Be_a_Medical_Coder.html
- https://www.aapc.com/medical-coding/medical-coding.aspx
- http://www.ecareindia.com/images/flowchat/medical-coding-img-big.jpg
