Medical Coding Specialist

17-106-3 Technical Certificate
Offered at New Richmond and 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

The following experiences will help you prepare for this certificate:

• Medical Terminology
• Anatomy
• Communications--verbally and in writing
• 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)