What Does a Medical Coder Do?
A medical coder may work in a doctor’s office, a lab, or a medical testing facility. Medical codes are universal, and it is important for them to be accurate, both for the insurance companies and the diagnosis of the patient. People wishing to be trained as a medical coder can earn a certificate from a vocational school or online. A medical coder’s salary varies with certification and experience. Some medical coders are even able to work from home, by telecommuting. This profession is becoming a much more popular one, as it is possible to work from home and earn good money.
A person responsible of medical coding is called a medical coder. There are many standard codes that are set for the respective treatments and diagnosis. A job of the medical coder is to identify these codes and fill in the patients details and the treatments or diagnosis that he undergoes, into these records. These records are then forwarded to the medical biller who further on prepares the bills.
As an essential role in the medical coding process, the medical coder is responsible for ensuring that all requests for diagnostics and blood work issued by a doctor contains the use of standard medical coding that is recognized by health insurance providers. Along with appearing on the requests for testing that are authorized by doctors, the same set of codes are used to encode any claims that are generated and submitted to the health insurance provider. The function of the medical coder is to ensure that the correct codes are used so that the correct testing is conducted, and the insurance company can quickly and efficiently review and process received claims. Health information coders often function as part of the doctor’s office team. The office manager may be the person trained in the use of the codes, or this may be a responsibility that is delegated to the assistant who interacts with the various labs and medical testing facilities that the doctor chooses to use. Since the list
Medical Coders work for insurance companies and heath care organizations. Every time a healthcare provider renders services to a patient (this is called an encounter) a claim is filed to the patient’s insurance provider. For all the types of encounters, there exists a specific code for each. these codes tells the payer what was wrong with the patient and what services were performed. The job of the medical coder then is to take bills submited to the insurance company and translate them into the appropriate codes. This may seem easy, but there are a lot of codes and procedures to learn, along with basic medical terminology.
Medical coders are also referred to as medical record coders, coders/abstractors, health information coders or coding specialists. Medical coders are responsible for assigning of codes for every diagnosis and medical procedure that is carried out for every patient. To do this medical coders rely on their knowledge of ailment and disease processes. Medical coders then make use of classification system software programs to allocate a patient to a single diagnosis related group, DRG. There are several hundred DRG classifications. Each of these helps in determining the amount of recompense the hospital will receive from Medicare or any other insurance program that covers the patient. These insurance firms also make use of the DRG system. There are also coding systems that are designed for ambulance services, long-term patient care, and physician offices.
