Medical Billing and Coding Specialist

This course offers an introduction to medical terms through an analysis of their construction, including prefix, suffix, root, connecting, and combining forms. Students acquire an understanding of medical meanings applicable to the structure, function, and diseases of the human body. Abbreviations and their appropriate usage are represented.

Students learn office procedures such as filing, handling mail, and preparing budgets. Students also learn stress management strategies and the importance of workplace ethics and effective communication in diverse environments. This course explores changes and challenges in the 21st-century workplace and the role of the administrative professional within that setting.

This course will emphasize the rules and guidelines in the CPT coding manual. It will benefit those who work or want to work in the medical field, whether it is as a medical biller, medical coder, medical collector, or medical office administrator. The class format is designed to help the beginner coder learn and understand the concept of coding using the CPT-4 coding manual.

This course is an introduction to basic diagnostic coding and introduces students to the characteristics and conventions of ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM (International Classification of Diseases, 9th and 10th Edition, Clinical Modification), and other diagnosis coding systems or code sets (DSM-IV, ICD-0, etc.). Focus is placed on using diagnosis codes correctly and official coding guidelines, and includes extensive practice coding exercises.

This course prepares students in many of the procedures associated with billing for medical services. Students will examine many different types of insurance programs, profit and nonprofit third-party payers, workers compensation package, and disability coverage.