Medical coding is one of the most crucial elements for insurance companies. Used to chart out a patient’s billable amount for reimbursement, medical coding can be rightfully termed as translation.
Medical Coding: The Essence
At the core of medical coding, it can be defined as the input of medical procedures, medical equipment and diagnosis of the patient, as well as other healthcare services. As mentioned before, this procedure is done in order to bring out the total amount of medical claim. Medical coding finds use in various health insurance companies and government agencies.
The Need of Medical Coding
Truth be told, medical coding helps companies to specify as well as uncomplicate the medical data. Consider a scenario where you visit a doctor with a sore throat. The doctor would most likely offer you a prescription with their diagnosis, which could be a fever or a common cold. The said data will then be included in the history of the person at the insurance company.
However, on a similar note, what if you go to the doctor and are diagnosed with something complicated, diabetes type-II for example? The data to be included is complex and requires a lot of specific details of the same. From the diagnosis to the lab results, there are a number of specifics to be considered.
Medical coding allows for an easy transfer of such data, effectively. Although medical coding can be hard to get right instantly, professional medical coding course training.
Medical Coding examples
Although there are various types of coding in this field, one such widely used type is the Common Procedure Coding System. The primary mission of a medical coder is to bridge the gap between the insurance companies and the insured persons.
In all honesty, medical coders help in assigning the correct classification codes to the corresponding patients. A medical coder extracts information through various lab results, doctor’s notes and other reports. This field requires extensive study of the medical reports and other types of information in the same regard to determine the correct code.
CPT codes are considered as the standard code for documenting the reports and patient interaction. The documentation for CPT includes studying the interactions of the following:
- Anesthesiology,
- Radiology,
- Medical Records,
- Lab results, and
- Surgical records.
All US CPT codes are used in five digits, and they are maintained by the American Medical Association (AMA).
All about CPT codes
There are three categories for CPT codes, and they are:
- Category I :
- This category ranges from 00100 and 99499.
- Examples of this category include CPT code 74150 which points to a CT scan of the abdomen (upper) without dye, and CPT code 74160, which stands for a CT scan of the abdomen (upper) with dye.
- Category II :
- This category includes the alphanumeric codes.
- These codes stand for time management or execution of the same.
- Category III :
- Codes under this category are new.
- These codes are given for the collection of new data and new procedures.
Where can you learn CPT or medical coding?
If you wish to be a medical coder, then all you have to do is to find a medical coding course. However, when you look for an institute for the course, you need to make sure that the institute offers you a course on the type of coding you are interested in.
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