Medical Coding Specialist

17-106-3 Technical Certificate
Campus: New Richmond, Rice Lake, Superior

Overview

This certificate will prepare you for employment as a coding specialist in hospitals, clinics, surgery centers, long-term and home healthcare facilities. Coding Specialists are also employed by consulting firms, coding and billing services, insurance companies, and governmental agencies.

Student Profile

As a Medical Coding Specialist student, you should:

Be very detail oriented when working with patient information
Be able to work independently
Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing
Enjoy learning about the medical field and about new diseases and treatments
Maintain a high level of confidentiality

Preparation for Admission

As a student in this certificate, you should strive to reach a comfort level in the following courses or skills:

Medical Terminology
Anatomy
Communications, written and oral
Basic computer skills

Outcomes

Employers will expect you, after completing this certificate, to be able to:

Analyze health records and assign codes for diseases and procedures
Extract key information from health records for reimbursement, statistics, and research purposes
Maintain confidentiality
Maintain a high accuracy level

After successful completion of the certificate and after a specified number of years of work experience as a coder, graduates are eligible to take one of the five coding certification exams available:

AHIMA (CCA, CCS, or CCS-P)
AAPC (CPC or CPC-H)

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Medical Administrative Specialist

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