Career in Medical Coding

Hello Friends,

Greetings for a sweet Saturday.

Mario Andretti once said: Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

There’s no denying that healthcare careers are complicated. Professionals in these fields attempt to understand, interpret and diagnose problems in the human body, the most complex organism on the planet Earth!

A health information technician (HIT) career, which doesn’t require direct contact with patients, requires an acute understanding of the various codes assigned to different medical diagnoses. Getting HIT certification  is not that difficult and HIT people enjoy a bright economic future but there is a daunting question that everyone considering this profession asks: Is medical coding hard?

The short answer is yes, medical coding is challenging. I asked my fellow coders to provide some insights that suggest medical coding may not be quite as hard as you think.

What is medical coding?

Medical coding is the transformation of healthcare diagnosis, procedures, medical services and equipment into universal medical alphanumeric codes. The diagnosis and procedure codes are taken from medical record documentation, such as transcribed physician notes, laboratory and radiologic results, etc. The coder is responsible for allocating medical codes (CPT, ICD and HCPCS) to the claim. Put simply, whenever a patient goes to a clinic or hospital for any reason, the visit has specific medical codes assigned to help track the reason of the visit for medical and billing purposes.

Is medical coding hard?

“Medical coding is not difficult for the right person,” says Amit Verma, coding manager for R Systems International Ltd. It requires attention to detail because nothing can be missed when processing patient information and everything needs to be assigned the proper code.

The most challenging point comes for students that are just starting out. It requires the knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, and medical terminology to successfully learn the coding systems.

Most challenging aspects of medical coding

Human anatomy has a lot of grey areas but medical coding is black and white. The challenge comes in transforming cloudy and complex medical symptoms into clear, discernible codes.

Detailed attention is mandatory. You have to re-check your work against the alphabetical coding list to eliminate errors. It is also challenging to keep up with industry changes. Existing medical codes are updated, changed or discarded every year.

And the most important part for learning medical coding is applying the guidelines set by the industry.

Can medical coding be fun?

Medical coding is “like a puzzle and solving a mystery all in one”. Once you’ve learned all of the possible solutions, you get to assign the right one to the mystery at hand.

It’s also interesting to learn about all of the unusual reasons people seek medical care. And of course there’s the occasional awkward misspelling or unfortunate word placement. For example, “the lab test indicated abnormal lover function.”

Tips for success in medical coding

A. Enhance your learning with flashcards, online quizzes and other supplemental educational materials. Practice and deep understanding is essential to the job.

B. YouTube videos can be very helpful in furthering your understanding of a medical concept. The exercise at the end of the textbook readings will also boost your learning.

C. Study and review daily.  This will help you translate information from your short term memory to the long term.

D. Start your studies by reading the guidelines at the front of the book.

In short…!!!

Medical coding may not be as simple as tying your shoes but it is not impossible either. If you are willing to put in some work at the front end, the challenges of medical coding will be even easier to overcome. And the reward is a career that is critical to a medical facility. A lot of things can occur from the time a patient arrives at a clinic to the time that they leave, and it is up to a medical coder to ensure that nothing gets missed.

Now is the time to take on the challenge.

Thanks for reading,

Pankaj Kumar