Medical coders and billers are responsible for assigning codes to medical conditions and procedures to generate bills of reimbursement for the health care providers in cases when patients have health insurance. Usually, such professionals get formal training at a technical school or community college. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for this occupation is expected to increase by 20 percent by 2018, which makes job prospects very promising.
Anoka Technical College
Anoka Technical College -- named after its location in Minnesota -- offers a Medical Coding Specialist diploma program for people interested in entry-level positions in medical coding and billing. For higher earning potential and enhanced level of training, students opt for the Associate of Applied Science in Health Information Technology Degree. The diploma and associate degree require 42 and 69 credits, respectively. Courses at Anoka include Health Information Systems and Technology, Coding and Reimbursement for Physician's Services, and Professional Practice for Coding Specialist.
Prince George's Community College
Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., offers a Medical Coder/Billing Specialist certificate. Consisting of 39 credits, the program includes courses such as Principles and Applications of ICD-9-CM, Principles of CPT and Fundamentals of Health Information in its curriculum. Like that of Anoka, PGCC's program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM). This means that graduates can sit for the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) exam to be certified as Registered Health Information Technicians, or RHITs.
ITT Tech
ITT Technical Institute, better known as ITT Tech, offers a CAHIIM-accredited Health Information Technology associate degree. Students enrolled in this program need at least 96 credits to graduate; 24 of the credits comprise General Education courses. Core medical coding and billing courses at ITT include Release of Personal Health Information, ICD-9-CM Coding, and Supervision and Personnel Management in Health Care. ITT provides the program at 10 of its national campuses: five in California, three in Florida, and one each in Idaho and Indiana.
Sanford-Brown College
Like ITT Tech, Sanford-Brown College offers its medical coding and billing training at multiple campuses -- 12, to be exact. Depending on the campus, the training is provided in diploma, certificate or associate degree format. Subject areas at Sanford-Brown include billing practices and systems, data abstracting, health record maintenance and health care computer applications.
Tags: Health Information, associate degree, coding billing, medical coding, medical coding billing
