What Skills and Knowledge Do I Need to Be a Medical Coder?

Medical coders play a key role in health care. Doctors, nurses, and patients depend on them for the smooth, timely functioning of the reimbursement system. Employers today regard medical billing and coding as essential to maintaining a healthy bottom line.

Skills

You need to have solid computer and keyboard skills to be a coder.

Medical coders review patient records and identify each separate illness, symptom, diagnosis, procedure, and treatment. The coder then uses a standard classification system to assign a code to each element. Therefore, you will be expected to have good analytical and evaluation skills.

A good medical coder is detail-oriented and pays close attention to every item in a document, carefully proofing her work before turning it in. Accuracy and completeness are paramount in this profession.

Employers look for self-starters – people who work well on their own initiative and without supervision.

Are you someone who enjoys learning? Successful medical coders are willing to advance their knowledge throughout their career. You also need to be open to change. Twice a year, changes are made to the coding system. The system also undergoes change when new regulations and rules are issued by Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies.

Coders must be able to understand, process, and apply information. These skills are necessary to translating content in medical records into the right codes. Billing errors, disruptive to claims reimbursement, are not well tolerated.

Finally, a medical coder needs good communication skills. Although coding is a solo task, coders consult with medical professionals at times for clarification and to make sure they are assigning the correct codes.

Knowledge

The knowledge you acquire and your mastery of the fundamentals of the medical coding world are just as important as your skills. A coder must also be proficient in health care basics, including medical terminology, anatomy, physiology, disease processes, pharmacology, and medical ethics.

Knowledge of electronic health records (EHR) computer software and multiple medical coding systems is required, along with keeping current with medical coding rules and regulations pertinent to billing, compliance, and privacy.

Many colleges and universities offer courses through their medical coding associate degree program. Check with your local college to see if it offers this program, or look online at these websites:

• CAHIM (Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education) – lists Health Information Management (HIM) programs
• American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)
• American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC)

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.