Choosing a new career is so nerve-wracking, isn’t it? There are so many factors one needs to consider before deciding to pursue a new career.
Are you looking for an exciting career after graduation or post-graduation in life science with a stable, recession-proof, and highly paid job?
If your answer is yes, then look no further. Having a career in medical coding might just be the right option for you.
Interested to know about Medical coding as a career? Read on to find out more.
What is medical coding?
Medical coding is the translation of various healthcare procedures, diagnoses, medical reports, equipment, and services into alphanumeric codes within the healthcare industry which helps to convert cumbersome medical reports into data-friendly codes. At present, It is one of the most essential aspects of healthcare.
Medical coding happens each and every time when you visit a doctor. Every time a patient consults a doctor for treatment, a record is kept which includes the symptoms of the patient, medical treatments and outcomes, patient’s medical history, diagnostic tests, and results which are further reviewed and coded by a medical coder.
What is the work of a medical coder?
Health information experts who are specialized in coding are called medical coders. They are the professionals responsible for translating the medical reports into medical codes and ensuring that the codes are used correctly in the medical billing process.
Medical coders review the medical record of a patient and translate it into alphanumeric and numeric codes. At first, coders abstract the critical details from a patient’s record and then evaluate various codes to assign them to represent the details.
What is to be learned in medical coding?
Medical Coding training syllabus majorly contains the following:
- Human Anatomy
- Medical terminology and definitions.
- ICD-10-CM (International classification of diseases)
- CPT (Current procedural Terminologies)
- HCPCS (Healthcare common procedure coding system)
- American Healthcare system and Insurance
Certifications
Although medical coding certifications are not a basic requirement to work as a medical coder, students with certifications are more preferable for employment. Certified medical coders also earn more than non-certified coders.
There are a number of certification courses a student can pursue but three of them i.e Certified Professional Coders (CPC), Certified Coding Specialists (CCS), and Certified Inpatient Coder (CIC) are the most common type of certification courses that are offered by different organizations.
Certified professional coders (CPC)
The certified professional coder (CPC) certification offered by the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) is an ideal path for those who are interested in an outpatient setting.
Certified Coding Specialists (CCS)
The Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) certification offered by American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is an ideal path for those who are interested in inpatient activities.
Certified Medical Coder (CMC)
The CMC (Certified Medical Coder) certification is offered by Practice Management Institute (PMI).
The CMC certification is less common than CPC or CCS certification, but it has a more difficult examination pattern than the other two.
Why should you take medical coding as a career?
Coders are in demand
As healthcare is a basic human need, medical coders will always be in demand. During the pandemic, the number of visits to the hospital has increased a lot which required more specialists to understand, organize and bill correctly and code them.
The demand for medical coders has expanded a lot in the past few years. Job growth for medical coders is going to grow up to 18% within 2026 which shows a better future for coders in the healthcare industry.
Take less time to complete the course
Unlike the other courses which take a lot of time to complete, the certification course in medical coding can be completed in as little as four months or as long as a year. Medical coders can start doing jobs only after a few months or a year of training.
Can do online courses at your home
Many organizations are offering online courses for medical coding which is a good fit for the students.
Coders can work from home
Many organizations and hospitals are offering the option of working from home in a particular part of the time which provides flexibility to the workers.
Provides freelancing jobs
Freelancing gives the flexibility to choose when to work and when not to. This is the best option for coding specialists who don’t want to work under an employer. So medical coding provides flexibility to the coders to choose freelance projects.
Less course fees
Medical coding costs low fees as compared to the various medical schools. So it is financially affordable.
Flexible workplaces
Medical coders can work in various places like nursing homes, clinics, hospitals,
medical laboratories, and even in administrative support centers. So this course provides a lot of opportunities for employment.
Medical coding has upward mobility
Working with no chances of upward growth makes you unmotivated and frustrated in medical coding. There are chances of upward growth to become a healthcare administrator and various roles in management facilities.
High salary
Medical coding is one of the highly paid jobs. It was mentioned as one of the 14 top-paying allied health careers in the US. According to the AAPC’s annual salary survey, a medical coder earns $26.89 per hour and $55,923 per annum.
Career growth potential
The demand for medical coders has increased by 40% as compared to last year. So the medical coding field is growing at a faster rate. The employment of medical coders will increase by 15% within 2024. It shows better future employment for medical coders.
The salary and demand for coding specialists are expected to increase, with the introduction of new technology and increased data usage.
There is a better career opportunity with the highest paid salary in the field of medical coding. Many medical coding experts enjoy lifelong careers with medical coding credentials. With a diversity of experience and skills and multiple credentials, the career path options in medical coding are endless.
Where do medical coders work?
The diversity of agencies, hospitals, and businesses opens a myriad career options to medical coders.
There are many workplace options for medical coders. Besides hospitals and health centers the medical coders can work in a physician’s office, ambulatory surgery centers, labs, physical therapy centers, sports medicine centers, home health agencies, consulting firms, medical equipment and supply vendors, accountable care organizations, insurance companies, billing companies, long term care facilities, and EHR software vendors.
Many medical coders also go to various colleges, universities, and training institutes to teach medical coding to the students.
You can also work as Subject Matter Experts(SME)s on a contractual basis if you want to become your own boss. An SME has various opportunities to work in short and long terms as bloggers, training specialists, trade journal contributors, curriculum contributors, partners with organizations of healthcare in various high schools, colleges, and institutions.
Many employers also hire remote medical coders who can work from home. AAPC’s annual medical salary survey shows that more than one-third of AAPC’s certified students work remotely under an employer.
Eligibility criteria for medical coding
Candidates aspiring to do a medical coding course must have passed a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree, preferably in life science from an accredited institution.
So, if you are a diploma/graduate/post-graduate degree holder in the field of pharmacy, biochemistry, microbiology, biology, zoology, nursing then you are eligible to pursue this course.
Students from other streams can also become medical coders subject to proper training.
One must also have the analytical ability to analyze and read patients’ details and medical records using the right codes.
How to start your medical coding training?
After meeting the eligibility criteria, the aspiring candidate must find the best training institute to start the certification course. FluenceTech Academy is a pioneer in providing quality Medical Coding Training for those who are seeking to pursue a career in the medical coding industry.
After the completion of the medical training program, you may take CPC ( Certified Professional Coder) or CRC (Certified Risk Adjustment Coder) exams conducted by AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coder) and CCS ( Certified Coding Specialists) or CCA (Certified Coding Associate) conducted by AHIMA (American Health Information Management Association) for better growth potential.
When you are certified, it improves your chances of better pay and better opportunities. The medical coding certifications are global credentials and are beneficial for various roles within the healthcare industry such as medical coding, auditing, billing, practice management, and compliance.
Conclusion
Medical coding is a fast-paced industry in today’s era. It plays an important key role in the modern healthcare system. It is also used by different organizations for effective communication with other healthcare systems throughout the world.
According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS), the demand for medical coding experts will rise up to 8% from 2019 to 2029 which is more than average. It shows a lot of new job openings for medical coding experts in both national and international fields.
There will be exponential demand for trained medical coders globally going into 2022. So there cannot be a better time to start your career in medical coding than now.
You can get yourself trained in medical coding from the comfort of your home as FluenceTech Academy provides online Medical Coding training.