“A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated.” – Horace Mann, American Education Reformer
For most certified medical billers and coders, education ends with the completion of an associate’s degree. This is because the medical billing and coding industry cares most about certification and work experience. According to the certification requirements listed by both AHIMA and the AAPC, an associate’s degree from a high quality medical billing and coding program, along with two or three years of relevant work experience, will provide you with the knowledge necessary to pass virtually all certification exams (the RHIA, CHPS and CHDA exams from AHIMA are notable exceptions which require a bachelor’s degree).
It’s important to note that for most of these certifications, you do not need to prove that you’ve obtained an associate’s degree. Instead, you only need to obtain the knowledge that would be provided through a typical associate’s degree program. Your first step towards certification is finding a reputable educational program in medical billing and coding, available both online and offline.
Online Medical Billing and Coding Programs
Several online universities, such as Drexel, offer distance-learning schools for medical billing and coding. Drexel, like many other online schools, refers to this program as a “certificate” program. Note that this does not imply that certification is a component of the curriculum. Instead, it implies that completion of the program will prepare you for a certification exam. The knowledge you’ll gain through a program such as this is comparable to the knowledge you’d gain through an associate’s degree program in medical billing and coding.
The program in question consists of six courses, each worth 3 college credits. It prepares students for medical billing and coding work in health insurance organizations, medical offices, physicians’ clinics and out-patient and in-patient hospitals by teaching the principles of the three primary medical billing and coding code sets, including HCPCS Level II, ICD-9-CM and CPT. Tuition is set to $620 per credit.
Admissions Requirements
Admissions requirements for online medical billing and coding schools are typically quite lenient. In the case of the medical billing and coding certificate program from Drexel, students must submit a basic application form along with official transcripts. If you’ve completed or worked towards a post-secondary degree program in the past, you can submit electronic copies of relevant transcripts via email. If you’ve only received a high school diploma or GED, you’ll need to send official high school transcripts. If you’re an international student and you don’t possess a high school diploma or GED, you must pass the TOEFL, or Test of English as a Foreign Language.
Offline Medical Billing and Coding Schools
Boise State University offers a medical billing and coding associate’s degree program that is typical of what you’ll find at an offline university. The program, which leads to an Associate of Science in Health Informatics and Information Management, consists of 64 credits and is intended for completion in two years. Tuition is set to $2,650 per semester for residents and $7,378 per semester for non-residents.
Fast Fact: The Medical Biller and Coder’s Course Load
Boise State’s Health Informatics and Information Management program also gives some insight into what types of courses medical billers and coders can expect to take during their studies. These courses include:
- Human Anatomy and Physiology
- Introduction to Health Records
- Health Information Management Topics
- Health Data
- Clinical Classification Systems
- Medical Terminology
- Clinical Practice
- CPT Coding and Alternative Care
Admissions and Graduation Requirements
In order to be considered for the Associate’s of Science in Health Informatics and Information Management program, students must first receive general admission to Boise State University. Students can begin taking required medical billing and courses immediately and speak with a program advisor regarding the official declaration of a major. Students must maintain a GPA of at least 2.0 before and after entering the program. In order to graduate, you must do the following:
- Receive no less than a C- in any core curriculum course. Students are able to retake any courses in which they receive less than a C-.
- Complete the school’s basic Mathematics and English Composition requirements.
- Apply for graduation.
These admissions and graduation requirements highlight the relative simplicity of completing the education requirements necessary for receiving a medical billing and coding certification. You won’t need to complete a practicum or internship, although those are available through some universities. You won’t need to research and write a thesis or dissertation. You won’t need to move on to a bachelor’s degree or master’s degree program, unless you plan on pursuing a management position in the health information industry. You’ll only need to gain the knowledge required to pass a medical billing and coding certification exam, and all of that knowledge is available in a high quality associate’s or certificate program.
Medical Billing and Coding Courses
You can expect to find many of the following medical billing and coding courses at accredited online and offline schools. The exact titles of these medical billing courses and medical coding courses will vary from one school to another.
Introduction to Health Records – This medical coding course covers the contents of hospital charts, the basic work of medical records practitioners, professional organizations related to billing and coding and medical record technology.
Computers in Health Science – Most accredited medical billing schools offer this course, which covers the role of office computers in healthcare settings. Topics include database management, word processing, spreadsheets, computerized graphs and how these things relate to health information management.
Health Information – This coding course covers the retrieval, analysis, preparation and preservation of health information, both on paper and electronically. The course also explains how this information is valuable to the medical community, including doctors and patients in particular.
Health Information II – High quality schools usually include this accredited medical billing course, which expands on the topics taught in the first part of the course to teach the application of coded data to reimbursement and payment systems. Topics include resource management processes, such as quality assessment, used to collect and interpret data.
Health Data – This medical coding course teaches how to collect and present data gathered by medical offices for routine statistical reports. Students learn data abstraction methods and the mathematical formulas used within them.
Clinical Classification Systems – This course is an essential component of any accredited medical coding and billing program as it details the code sets and classification systems used to assign procedure and diagnostic codes. Students learn how to validate coded clinical information in order to create computer-based health records.
CPT Coding / Alternative Care Records – This course expands on the topics found in the Clinical Classification Systems medical coding course to include the Current Procedural Terminology code set, and how it is used for both reimbursement and statistical purposes.
Computer Applications in Healthcare – Students typically take this medical billing and coding course after finishing a Computers in Health Science course, as it goes beyond typical office applications to cover clinical, administrative and research programs used by coders and billers.
Healthcare Databases and Networks – A course describing the various considerations pertinent to health database management, as well as the medical software programs and data systems used to facilitate them.
Health Data Research – This medical billing and coding course is ideal for students with an eye on a medical research career, as it covers a variety of applied research procedures. Topics include statistical output, retrieval programming, database protection, data manipulation, research design and reliability.
Health Informatics Issues and Trends – An analysis of broad topics related to healthcare, including interpretation of industry and governmental rules and regulations, electronic information processing, patient security and privacy issues and common business workflow processes.
Medical Billing and Coding Internship – This course, typically offered by accredited offline universities, connects students with local healthcare offices in order to provide on-the-job experience under a certified, supervising professional. Students are usually required to keep a journal and share their experiences in regular class meetings.
Things to Look for (and Avoid) in an Accredited Online Medical Billing and Coding Program
Many individuals choose to obtain a medical billing and coding education online. The benefits are obvious: You’ll enjoy the convenience of studying when you want to, where you want to. You’ll save time and money by avoiding the commute to an actual campus. You’ll probably end up paying less for tuition, overall. You’ll have access to a wide variety of programs, regardless of your geographical location. But will an online medical billing and coding education be as valuable and comprehensive as one obtained in a live classroom? The answer is an emphatic yes, so long as you’re willing to do some research and be selective when choosing a program. Plenty of online medical billing and coding education programs are little more than scams. Here’s how you can find the ones that are legitimate, and actually prepare you for AHIMA and AAPC certification exams:
1. Know the credentials of your potential instructors. They should possess AHIMA and/or AAPC certifications, such as CPC, CCS and CCS-P. They should have years of experience in the medical billing and coding industry. They might even own successful medical billing and coding businesses.
2. Be sure that the medical billing and coding school offers some flexibility in terms of overall length. Typically, the program will last for two years. However, you should be able to complete it faster if you have the time to do so, and you should also be allowed to extend the program if you’re already juggling family and/or a career.
3. Ask whether the program prepares students for certification exams. A simple “yes” is not a satisfactory answer. Can the programs give specific examples of students who have graduated and earned their credentials without additional education?
4. Examine the program’s coursework to assess its diversity. Very few people are employed exclusively as “medical billers” or “medical coders,” and as such the program should offer a broad overview of health information.
5. Avoid programs that promise certification along with your degree. The only way to become certified as a medical biller and coder is to take an examination from professional organizations such as the AAPC and AHIMA. Online schools do not offer these examinations. Offline schools don’t either.
6. Determine whether the online medical billing and coding school will allow you to network with current students and alumni. One of the biggest detriments to an online education is the fact that it’s difficult to collaborate with your classmates, though it is possible for online schools to facilitate this. You want to talk to other students for two reasons:
- For study help.
- To ascertain whether alumni have found success following the program.
If the school refuses to give you referrals, it indicates that they might be hiding something (such as the fact that none of their graduates have found success in the medical billing and coding industry).
7. Avoid programs with inflexible payment options. You should be able to go through the process of submitting a FAFSA and obtaining financial aid just as you would with an offline school, though this may not apply to part-time programs. You should literally run away from a program that expects you to pay all of your tuition up front. Further, tuition should be affordable, and cost no more than what you’d expect to pay at a brick-and-mortar university.
About our expert. Jan Jacobs has worked in medical offices since the early 1980's. Ms. Jacobs has worked for M.D.'s and D.O.'s in primary care and specialty care. She is employed as a senior medical biller and has been at her current job for nearly 10 years, where she uses three different billing systems.
