Medical coding plays a crucial role in the healthcare system, ensuring that patient records are accurate, organized, and comprehensible. As such, earning your medical coding certificate can open up a world of professional advancement and career opportunities.
Whether you’ve completed a medical billing program, are a medical assistant looking to build on your skills, or have other healthcare experience, medical coding may be a great next step for you. But what exactly can you do with a medical coding certificate?
Read on to learn more about jobs you can get with a medical coding certificate.
5 Jobs for Medical Coding Certificate Holders
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1. Medical Records Technician
Medical records technicians, also known as health information technicians, play an essential role in compiling and organizing patient health information data. They can work in a variety of healthcare settings, such as hospitals, physician's offices, and insurance companies.
In addition to managing patient files and ensuring their accuracy, a medical records technician’s duties include but are not limited to:
- Maintaining and retrieving records for insurance reimbursement and data analysis
- Electronically recording data for collection, storage, analysis, retrieval, and reporting
- Following administrative, ethical, and legal requirements for safeguarding patient privacy
This role requires a strong understanding of medical terminology, coding systems, and data management principles — all of which you can learn in a medical coding certificate program.
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2. Coding Auditor
Coding auditors are responsible for reviewing coded patient records to evaluate accuracy/efficiency as well as compliance with legal and regulatory standards. They identify coding-related issues and provide feedback to coders and healthcare providers.
When conducting an audit, a coding auditor’s goals include:
- Identifying errors in provider documentation
- Identifying inefficiencies in payer reimbursement
- Determining usage of incorrect medical codes, such as use of deleted or modified codes
- Identifying fraudulent billing practices, whether intentional or unintentional
- and more
Being a coding auditor requires advanced knowledge of coding guidelines, regulations, and healthcare policies.
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3. Reimbursement Specialist
A reimbursement specialist oversees billing and coding processes to handle reimbursements, ensuring that physicians and other medical practitioners are paid appropriately. They act as a bridge between patients, healthcare professionals, and insurance companies.
A reimbursement specialist’s responsibilities involve researching patient insurance coverage and insurance claims in order to verify amounts billable and process accurate reimbursements.
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4. Patient Access Manager
Patient access managers fall into the category of medical and health services managers though as the name implies, they deal almost exclusively with patient records. In their roles, patient access managers ensure that databases of patient files are complete, accurate, and accessible only to authorized personnel.
Additional duties include:
- Developing goals and objectives related to efficiency and quality of healthcare services
- Ensuring that the facility in which they work complies with laws and regulations
- Preparing/monitoring budgets and managing finances, including patient fees and billing
Analytical skills, strong communication, attention to detail, and technical skills are all important qualities for this role.
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5. Medical Coder
Medical coders are responsible for reviewing patient medical records and assigning appropriate codes to diagnoses, procedures, and treatments. These codes are essential for billing purposes, insurance claims, and maintaining accurate patient records.
These are a few examples of medical coder job duties:
- Review patients’ records for timeliness, completeness, and accuracy
- Use classification systems to assign clinical codes for patients’ diagnoses, medical services, and related information
- Electronically record data for collection, storage, analysis, retrieval, and reporting
- Ensure confidentiality of patients’ records
If you like staying organized and are able to distill complex information into easy-to-read language, a job as a medical coder might be right for you. A medical coding certificate program helps provide you with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in this role.
Earn Your Medical Coding Certificate Online at ACC
If you already have medical billing or other related healthcare experience and are interested in any of the jobs above, now is the time to begin your medical coding training. ACC’s online Medical Coding program can be completed in as little as 30 weeks — that’s just under 8 months! Learn more about the program and apply today.
