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How Medical Billing and Coding Helps the Healthcare Industry

A career should be more than a job, and it should involve work that truly matters to you. If you are looking for a fulfilling career, you should consider medical billing and coding. The medical coding industry will allow you to work in a role where you are providing real benefits to people at every stage of the healthcare process. You will benefit the organizations that provide healthcare, and you will also benefit the people on the receiving end of that care. Your work is even important to large organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
You can start your career with medical coding school in Baton Rouge, and the following information will explain just how essential your role as a medical billing and coding professional would be.

What Does a Medical Billing and Coding Specialist Do?

If you study at a reputable medical billing and coding school, you will learn the skills that are necessary to code medical data and billing history. Whenever a physician provides a patient with medical treatment, or if a patient uses their insurance for procedures and consultations, nurses and other medical professionals record the information in a standardized, medical code.

These codes are standardized by the medical and insurance industries specifically for medical billing and coding purposes, and with proper training, you will be able to convert billing and treatment notes into this standardized format. This coding is useful to the industry in many ways, and your work will have a positive impact on everything from patient treatment, to fair and accurate insurance payouts.

Medical Billing and Coding

How are Medical Records Used?

After you learn medical billing and coding, you will start to see just how important your work is. The medical community uses records in ways that can have a profound impact on the healthcare industry, hospitals, and patients. The following are just a few examples of ways that coded medical data helps the healthcare industry:

When patient records are coded, they can be easily stored and referenced for any follow-up consultations and treatments. Doctors and other medical professionals can use coded records to understand a patient’s medical history and to find better ways to develop new treatment plans. Coded records can be used to identify diseases or other conditions that could be missed if standardized and accurate records were not available.

Accurate medical and billing information ensures that a patient is only billed for the actual services provided to him or her. Clear records in standardized format help insurance companies provide coverage when it is applicable. Standardized records result in prompt care, and they result in less stress for patients as there are fewer billing disputes.

When you attend a medical coding school in Baton Rouge, you will develop the coding skills that will help you to provide organizations like the CDC with accurate information about the health of our nation’s population. Organizations like the CDC use medical records to identify public health threats, to make funding recommendations, and even to track pandemics. Without accurate and standardized records, it would take much longer for the CDC to develop statistics and monitor the country’s health.

Thus, medical billing and coding is more than just a job. You will be performing an essential role that helps people at every point in the healthcare delivery process. When you want to work in an industry where you will be proud of what you do, few options provide more satisfaction than medical coding.

Where Can You Get Your Medical Coding Certification?

ITI Technical College is an excellent place to earn your Medical Coding Certificate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Our comprehensive and hands-on program will teach you valuable skills that you need to enter the industry and prepare you for interviews from employers across the United States. If you are ready to learn medical coding, then ITI Technical College is a great place to start. Talk to us today to discuss the enrollment process and take a positive step towards a brighter future!






Four New Medical Coding Trends in 2018 

As the medical industry moves toward value-based care, hospitals have a clear need to keep up and make sure that they are providing adequate clinical documentation. Those entering the medical industry who attend medical billing and coding school will have a significant advantage due to their education and the skills learned while in school Furthermore, these individuals will likely be able to get their foot into the door of the industry with a company through an internship during their education.

Additionally, the Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) industry is quickly becoming an integral part of the value-based car initiatives most hospitals are adopting. We will begin by discussing some of the changes to the CDI profession.

Technology Has Completely Changed the CDI Profession

We have seen the way technology has made a difference over the years and it should be no surprise to anyone who chose to learn medical procedure codes that CDI has been affected. These new technologies will help streamline the query process and ensure all patient care is properly documented.

Reducing Physician Burnout

The world has become a more complicated place and physician burnout is far more common than in previous years. The healthcare industry is working to reduce this issue, and it was a major discussion topic at the American Conference on Physician Health. It is believed that much of this can be solved by creating more efficient systems and ensuring that the needs of physicians are being properly paid attention to. One of the best ideas that have surfaced recently is the creation and use of technology that will help doctors complete coding queries in a reasonable amount of time. The less time they spend on coding, the more time they can spend treating their patients.

Medical Coding

The Introduction of Value-Based Purchasing

Hospitals are going to be held accountable for the level of care that they do or do not provide, especially in the medical billing and coding area. For example, if a hospital provides unsatisfactory care for any reason, and if it continues to do so consistently, there is a chance Medicare will deny or adjust payments. Thus, it will become increasingly important for hospitals to accurately code and ensure that the documentation kept by the physicians accurately reflects the care that was provided to the patients. This will ultimately make hospitals more aware of their own coding practices which will help drive efficiencies and benefit doctors and patients alike.

Consumers Can see Everything

ITI Technical College LogoThere was a time when medical documentation was really the domain of doctors and other medical professionals. Thanks to the internet, however, much of this information is now readily available to general consumers. There are several reporting agencies like Healthgrades and Leapfrog that gather information based on the coded data from hospitals and assign a quality ranking based on the data. Inaccurate coding and reporting could result in a lower ranking which would cause a potential patient to simply go elsewhere. Today, the reputation of hospitals everywhere is on the line and most importantly, consumers finally have a choice in who they will receive care from.

These trends are becoming very prevalent in all areas of the healthcare industry but with the way that technology has been evolving, it should be no surprise to anyone that hospitals are being held more accountable. The big question, is what will happen as time progresses? How will hospitals adjust to the changes and new trends? The future is uncertain, but we are going to see a real evolution in the healthcare industry in the next few years.






Will Computer Aided Coding Replace Certified Coders?

The advent of computers has a lot of people worried, and much of this worrying is justified by the advancement of machine learning and automation. If you look around, you will see many different instances where technology has managed to replace workers with seemingly repetitive jobs. One of the most recent examples, of course, being fast food workers.

With technology moving forward as quickly as it is today, many individuals who learn medical procedure codes are concerned they will eventually be out of a job thanks to apps and systems replacing the human element in their jobs. So, here is the real question: is it possible for your job to be taken by a computer if you get the medical coding training that you want? The short answer is no, but we are going to go into more detail below. The long answer might be a little more complicated than you thought.

Medical Billing and Coding

A System with Multiple Issues

Computer Aided Coding is now more of a possibility than it has been in the past for a few different reasons. First, we transitioned to electronic health records, or HER’s, which allow the computer to easily move through the text, find the keywords/phrases and turn them into codes. Yes, it does work, and yes, it is efficient, but there are certain issues. The entire operation should work in theory, but you always have the possibility of human error no matter how stringent the input requirements are. A great example would be entering ‘heart failure’ into the documentation. This would work, but what if the patient suffered from acute pancreatitis?

The system would simply scan through the chart, and it might conclude that the reason for the visit was ‘acute heart failure’ based upon what was written in the document. A potential fix for this would be to have the person inputting the data omit the names of common conditions if they are not related to the main cause, but this would create more work and there is no guarantee that the coder would be able to catch all possible instances. Ultimately, the coding would be inaccurate, and it would cause mass confusion upon being submitted to the insurance company.

Accuracy is Essential

To put it all in a nutshell, Computer Aided Coding (CAC), is certainly a possibility, but the medical billing and coding industry still needs HER’s that can document everything accurately. The CAC itself is likely perfect, but the reporting faces limitations. Take a medical record that has a lot of copy and pastes as one of the better examples. The system will not be able to differentiate between legitimate information and information that has been duplicated. Ultimately, if something has not been documented properly then it cannot be coded, regardless of how good the computer is at its job.

The Prognosis

ITI Technical College LogoIn the end, the technology exists but it simply is not going to give us the results that the medical industry expects and needs. There is no argument that it can come close, and maybe with additional engineering, research, and development, we will begin to see more successful implementations in the future. Currently, though, the best medical coders are still humans.

Thus, medical coding and billing jobs are safe from being automated and having their human elements eliminated. Should you choose to attend medical billing and coding school, you will work your way into an amazing career and it will not be too long before you are living the life that you have always wanted. Whether this is going to be your permanent career, or you are only using it as a stepping stone, you are in good hands and your future is secure.







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Medical Coding Standards Today

Medical billing and coding represent two very important industries today, but this should not be a surprise to anyone. The medical field is one that is constantly expanding and changing; whether it is a new procedure or a new method of carrying out something tried and true, the industry evolves a little bit every day.

No matter what it is, it is going to require a new type of code, and as time goes by, it becomes more than just one code. Before you know it, there are thousands of new codes to keep track of, and that is precisely why the ICD-10 standard recently replaced ICD-9. The medical coding standards today are high, as they should be, and certification requires significant dedication in medical billing and coding.

Are You Ready to Learn Medical Coding and Billing?

As medical billing and coding become more and more complex, the need for skilled workers in the field only grows. If you want to be a medical coder, then you will simply need to gain your certification through our specialized course today, and it will help you to land a job in nearly any medical facility. This includes physician offices, hospitals, and much more. You may even find yourself in a specialized department at an insurance company. It is important to remember however that each facility environment will have unique requirements, and each one will demand different qualities from you.

Certification Requirements in the United States

Within the United States, medical billers and coders will be required to meet a very specific set of certifications, some of which are easier than others:

AAPC Medical Billing and Coding Training

Office Administration-Medical and or Medical CodingThis is the original medical billing and coding certification, now claiming 175,000 members and 115,000 with active certifications. The AAPC provides training that is considered to be at the forefront of the industry, and it represents all branches of the trade including:

* Medical Coders

* Auditors

* Medical Billers

* Compliance Officers

* Practice Managers

The AAPC is the most recognized organization in the medical billing and coding industry, and it is one that you will want to take part in once you finish training for medical procedure code.

Certified Professional Biller

The CPB certification will prepare medical billers and give then the technical knowledge they need to ensure maximum profit and accuracy in the filing. This in-depth knowledge will help to avoid payment delays or denials. This certification is crucial if you are going to work in the billing department of any medical facility.

When you become a Certified Professional Biller, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge of accurately submitting claims per government regulations and in concordance with private payer policies. You will also be able to follow up on the status of claims, resolve claim denials, launch appeals, post payments, make adjustments, and even work in collections.

Certified Professional Coder

ITI Technical College LogoCPC or Certified Professional Coder is reserved for individuals that code in private offices. In the United States, there are currently more than 175,000 professionals with this certification, and they have more than just a title. They can demonstrate their mastery over all code sets, management principals, surgical coding, and much more. This is a difficult certification to obtain, but it is well worth it if medical coding is truly your passion.

Start your New Career Today

Your medical billing and coding education can take you to many great places in life and it will not be long before you are well on your way to an outstanding career. For more information, call us today or fill out our online form. The future is waiting, are you ready to code it?







Mastering Medical Coding – It Is Not as Hard as you Think

The healthcare field is complicated; there is no denying it. Healthcare professionals do a lot of complicated jobs, which include interpreting and diagnosing some of the most complex issues within the human body. Ultimately there are hundreds or even thousands of different variables influencing it, and it takes a very skilled physician to make a proper diagnosis. This is where medical coding comes into play, and if you want to jump into this career you’re going to need to make sure that you have a strong understanding of the codes and a least a rudimentary understanding of human biology. Both are going to come into play with medical billing and coding, so keep that in mind. Still, it doesn’t have to be as hard as you think.

Many Paths to Choose From

The medical field has many paths for you to consider taking, and if you’re thinking of taking up the mantle of medical billing and coding then you do have quite a bit of work to do. Fortunately, it is an in-demand career that you can take on with less than two years of schooling, making it a great option for those who are looking to start a new career and move on from the typical 9-5 grind.

medical billing and coding

Is it Hard?

The objective of this article is to discuss whether or not training for medical procedure code is actually difficult, and that can be a hard one to answer. First, let’s talk a bit about the medical billing process. What you need to know is that medical coding is a step in this process, which is responsible for assigning codes for insurance claims. These codes are generated when a patient visits a healthcare facility, basically meaning that when a patient visits the doctor, you would be creating an appropriate code to ensure that the patient is not only treated correctly but that the billing department can do their job.

So as for the big question: Is it hard? Well, it’s not easy, per se, but it’s also not the most difficult thing in the world. To get a better idea, let’s talk about what exactly medical coding is and what it means to the industry.

Understanding Medical Coding

While it might sound incredibly complex to the untrained individual, medical coding is simply a step in the medical billing process that involves assigning codes to the patient’s visit, and those who attend a college or university to earn a Medical Coding Certificate will find it to be much like learning a foreign language. There are in fact three major coding systems, each one is completely different. It might seem a bit daunting but it’s definitely not impossible! There are some aspects of the process that are going to require trial and error but if you’re determined, you’ll be able to pull it off.

Don’t Forget to Ask Questions

When you’re learning medical coding you’re going to come across more than a few instances where you just don’t understand, and you need to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to do so! Our instructors are here to help and we’ll make sure that you get the information you need to be 100% effective in the medical field.

For more information, now would be a great time for you to contact ITI Technical College and see just what we have to offer you in terms of both education and career preparation. Once you get into the groove of things you will find yourself on an amazing path toward a brand new career. Your future is out there, and it might just be in the medical coding field!





Should You Learn Both Medical Billing and Coding?

As you are looking for a new career, you may come across medical billing and coding training, and your first big question is going to be whether they are both the same thing. Well, are they? More importantly, should you bother to learn both? Today we are going to take a closer look at what both are and then answer your question. Keep reading to find out more!

What is a Medical Coder?

Office Administration-Medical and or Medical CodingIf you are good with numbers, then you are probably going to be interested in the medical coding field. Your job is simple in a way, you check the medical records of each patient that passes through and you use the doctor’s notes to determine:

* Records of Testing

* Potential Diagnosis

When you work as a medical coder, you are essentially telling the story of the patient who visited the doctor’s office. It could have been a routine check-up, or it might have been something a bit more severe, like an ordered MRI for an injury. No matter what, each visit requires a specific code that will help others in the office to understand why the visit occurred.

To create the code, the medical billing and coding specialist will need to take the information the doctor provided and use it to create the proper code. In some cases, the coder may need to speak with medical staff to resolve complex issues.

What is a Medical Biller?

In medical billing, you will be responsible for auditing and submitting claims for patient diagnosis. This will apply to medical procedures both physicians and nurses perform, and you will need to be ready to use billing software that translates medical coding. The medical coder will submit the code to you, and as a medical biller, you may not fully understand some of the codes that the medical coders use or create. Therefore, you are going to need software to help you translate it.

Using the software at your disposal, you will be able to decipher the complex codes, and you will then communicate directly with both patients and insurers. The biller will have the responsibility of communicating with insurers to receive authorization for various charges to make sure that the patient has proper insurance coverage as well as the medical facility that rendered the treatment.

As a medical biller, you will not only be responsible for keeping up with current charges, you will also need to follow up on overdue invoices. This means that you will be directly contacting patients and even submitting claims to collections agencies. You will also be appealing denied to ensure that everyone is paid.

Should You Do Both?

ITI Technical College LogoThere is the lingering question of whether you should learn medical procedure codes as a medical biller, or whether you should simply stick with billing. In our opinion, it is a good idea to learn both for a few reasons. First, knowing the codes as a medical biller will help you to do your job quite a bit better, and secondly, you will find that you are much more employable when you are able to do both. Ultimately it will be up to you, but every little bit helps, even in a field that is growing this fast.

These are both very important fields and they are both very rewarding. If you are ready to ditch that minimum wage job and make a real difference in your life, then you should contact ITI Technical College and see what our programs offer. You might just be surprised at how far you can go.






A Closer Look at Medical Coding

Are you interested in taking medical billing and coding classes? You are not the only one; this field is constantly growing and has a solid career outlook. However, what can you actually expect from it? Is medical coding a viable career path that individuals should be increasingly considering, or is this simply a fad that will blow over in a few months? This blog will examine medical billing and coding to help you determine if you want to jump into this amazing, albeit challenging career path.

Medical Coding Means a Life of Office Work

After you finish your medical billing and coding training, you will be living in the office for the most part. When it comes to the healthcare office, patients are familiar with two types of people: doctors and the attending nurse. What they do not know, however, is what goes on behind the curtain. Medical coders handle some of the trickiest parts of the industry, and as a result, the industry relies heavily on them. To put it quite simply, the medical coders and billers are responsible for making sure that everyone is paid, and that all of the diagnoses are recorded correctly.

medical billing and coding training

You are the Unsung Hero

After you complete your medical billing and coding education, you are going to be the unsung hero of the office. No one will know about you outside of the staff, but you will be indispensable, even if the patients are not aware of it. Let us take a moment to closely examine the medical billing and coding industry and see exactly what it means to both you and the patients.

Behind the Scenes

If you were to look behind the scenes of any doctor’s office, you would find all of the billers and coders working away, whether it is a medical facility, a hospital, a private practice, or something else entirely. While you will wear the same attire as a nurse (scrubs), you will mostly be performing office duties. That said, medical coding is the first step toward completing an insurance claim for a patient, and this applies in an instance of both private and public practice. Facilities will require a code to process the claims, and through this, the insurance company will have a much better understanding of what services the office actually rendered.

Medical Coding Training

There are two different ways to train someone in medical coding, the first being the International Classification of Diseases or the ICD, and the Current Procedural Terminology, or CPT. These resources combined will include all of the necessary codes for each and every service. As you can see, it is not only a necessary profession; it is also an extremely complex one.

Taking your Responsibilities

As a medical coder, you will have a wide range of responsibilities that include assigning codes to procedures and diagnoses, inputting information, ensuring the accuracy of the codes, keeping yourself up to date on the latest codes and procedures, and much more. While it can be a rather complicated undertaking, medical billing and coding training is something that will stick with you for the rest of your life. If you are ready to make some serious changes in your life and if you are ready to embark on a brand new career, then now would be an outstanding time for you to contact ITI Technical College and see what we have to offer. We know that medical billing and coding training can become prohibitively expensive, so financial aid is available to those who qualify.






Medical Procedure Code: What’s Involved?

If you’re thinking of getting into medical billing and coding, it would help you to have an understanding of what it’s all about. First of all, medical coding is a bit like translation: you receive the doctor’s notes and then you use them to determine which code would work best for the file in question. This is a very important part of the medical claim process and one that you will need to become intimately familiar with. So, with that said, let’s discuss why medical coding is a necessity.

Why Do we Do Medical Coding?

So here’s the million dollar question: why do we even do medical coding? Why is it necessary? Wouldn’t it be easier to just list the information the patient gives and the diagnosis that the doctor renders? That would be simpler, right? Well, to answer that, let’s take a look at just how much data a patient visit generates. If you go in for a simple doctor visit, the doctor will list his diagnosis, the procedure, and a prescription, which means a lot of very specific information was just rendered. This is just for a simple visit so take a moment and think about what would happen if a more complex visit were to occur. Patient files would be massive and ultimately, it would not be cost-effective. As the injuries, illnesses, and diseases take on a more complex nature, the volume of data that needs to be sent off to the insurance company increases, and it all starts to become very confusing.

medical billing and coding

A More Uniform System

At the end of the day, coding allows for a more uniform system, and for documentation to be shared between medical facilities. This allows for more efficient research, and better analysis, making medical coding an essential part of the field.

Be a Part of Something

If you want to learn the art of medical billing and coding then we congratulate you on wanting to be a part of the system that is responsible for keeping the medical industry sane and even saving lives. As you delve deeper into this field you will quickly begin to learn just how important it is, and you will find it to be an extremely rewarding career. On top of that, however, you have the choice of either using this career as a stepping stone to a different job in the medical industry, or you can make it into a full-time career, rising through the ranks and setting an example. The choice is yours, but it all starts with getting the education you need.

Get the Education You Need

Before you can embark on your career you’re going to need a quality education which is exactly what we can provide. In addition to that, we’re proud to offer financial aid for those who qualify.
Now you know what medical coding is, and you know why it’s so important. You may have even decided that you want to do it! No matter what, however, it all depends on you taking that very important first step and jumping into your brand-new career. Leave the 9-5 lifestyle behind and try something entirely new! We’re waiting for you, your new career is waiting for you, so now the only question, is what are you waiting for? Call us today for more information and see what we can do for you.

