Medical Coding Process

Medical coding can be referred as a first step of the medical billing process. So t is a very integral part of medical billing and cannot be ignored at all. This process starts when patient receives professional health care in a hospital or a physician’s office. Other medical services include ambulance, out- patient services and other paramedic services. The medical coder abstracts all the information from the assignments, documents and the medical records. Medical coders assign appropriate codes to each of the services availed by the patient and then claim which is to be paid by the insurance or the patient is created.

he professionals who execute this process are called certified medical coders. They are well trained and have excellent knowledge on this important process. It must be understood that medical coding requires more specialized skill than medical billing. Both these processes complement each other but they aren’t the same. The medical coder and the biller might be the same person, but the processes are different from each other. The medical coder is mainly responsible for assigning appropriate codes to each of the services and makes the calculations based on the codes. In order to successfully accomplish this task, the coder must be well qualified and must have a very deep knowledge on the various medical services that are offered both the in- patients and also out- patients.