The current COVID-19 pandemic has me thinking… What are practices and facilities doing right now with their medical coders? So, I checked out a few Job Search engines and noticed a significant increase in the available remote medical coding positions. Even with the permanency of Electronic Health records, remote positions were still out of reach for many coders.
If you are impacted by the recent shut-downs, perhaps you will be interested in a work-from-home opportunity as a medical biller and coder. Now you are probably wondering… What does a medical biller and coder do? What type of education and experience do I need to become one? To answer the first question, a medical coder translates clinical documentation into HIPAA compliant codes. These codes are transmitted to insurance companies in the form of claims. Whereas a medical biller follows up on these claims, post payments, send patient statements and file appeals on denied claims.
The three main coding tools a medical coder will utilize are ICD-10-CM, CPT® and HCPCS. ICD-10-CM is used to assign codes to medical conditions and other reasons for the encounter. CPT® and HCPCS are used to assign codes to the services and procedures the providers perform. In other words, the CPT® and HCPCS answer the question of “What happened during a patient’s visit?”. The ICD-10-CM codes explain why these services and procedures were performed.
What are the education requirements for this position? For starters, potential candidates should understand medical terminology, diagnostic and procedural coding and health insurance. You can obtain these skills by enrolling in a vocational or community college program. However, if you do not have the time to dedicate 6 months to over 2 years towards your course of study, then take an online course. There are many online courses available and this career does not require a certificate or degree. Whichever option you choose, you must ensure that your program of study will lead to an AAPC CPC® or AHIMA CCS® or CCS-P® certification. These are the most recognized credentials and most employers require them even without work experience.
If this sounds like something for you, then check out our free, introductory course entitled “What is Medical Billing and Coding?”. In this course you will find the answers to most of the questions you may have regarding the field, tasks, education and experience requirements. When you are ready to work on these tasks, enroll in “A Specialty Approach to Learning Medical Billing and Coding” for only $10.99. You may access this course by clicking the following link: WORKFROMHOME. Here’s to a new career!