Being a Medical Coding Professional:
Medical coding professionals offer a crucial step in the medical billing process. Each time, a patient receives professional health care, this could be through a physician’s office, any hospital outpatient facility, or in some cases an ambulatory surgical center (ASC), the provider must document the services provided. The medical coder then abstracts the information from the documentation, following it with the assigning of appropriate codes. A claim is created to be paid. This claim can be paid by a commercial payer or the patient.
Work That Sets a Medical Coder Apart:
Coding can be fairly an isolated work but that doesn’t rule out interaction with other coders. There is consistent engagement with medical billers and physicians. Medical coders grow accustomed to fairly tight production schedules. They are also expected to complete a specified number of notes every day. They are even required to keep their lag days at a specified timeframe. Lag days can be defined as the number of days it takes for the note to be documented to the actual claims submission date and is usually between 2 to 5 days at most.
Ever Increasing Career Avenues:
AAPC’s 2014 Salary Survey resulted in the declaration that the time to be working on the business side of healthcare was promising. Employment opportunities have been consistently on the rise for members, especially for apprentices. Members now are earning higher education degrees and the number is higher than it has ever been witnessed. This has led to an increase in salaries are increasing across the board. For members who are working in hospital inpatient settings, education, the monetary future looks very secure.