Medical coding

Enhance your skills

       Change your career direction

                 Add to your expertise

 

 

Medical Coding:

                The Medical Coding Certificate Program is designed to prepare students for challenging coding positions in hospitals, clinics, ambulatory surgery centers, insurance companies and other settings where diagnostic and procedural data are coded in ICD-9-CM and CPT for reimbursement purposes. Students who successfully complete the program are equipped with skills and training to take the Certified Coding Specialist/Certified Coding Specialist-Physician based CCS/CCSP exams.

 

 

Core Courses:

 

            Learners are required to complete the following seven (7) core courses.

 

                    

 

 

 

                              

MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY:

 

            If you are interested in upgrading your job skills in the medical, legal, or insurance professions, or if you need greater familiarity with medical terminology, you can benefit from this comprehensive course which includes abbreviations, spelling and terminology needed to describe basic body systems, functions, disorders, laboratory tests, and surgical procedures.

 

 

BASIC ICD-9-CM CODING:

 

            Coding, a system by which information can be communicated, is vital to people working in the medical and allied health professions and in medical records. This course introduces the basic rules for coding diseases and procedures according to ICD-9-CM. It familiarizes you with volumes I, II and III of the ICD-9 coding books. Physicians, billing and accounts clerks and others can benefit from the course.

 

 

BASIC CPT/HCPCS CODING:

 

            CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) is a national coding system used to designate medical, surgical and diagnostic services. The common procedure coding system for the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), CPT is used to report physician and non-physician services covered by Medicare and Medicaid.

 

 

INTERMEDIATE ICD-9-CM CODING:

            This intermediate ICD-9-CM coding classes addresses the clinical process behind the ICD-9-CM diagnosis coding. Topics include respiratory system disorders, infectious diseases, OB-GYN, circulatory system, complications, and adverse effects, and more. PREREQUISITE: Basic ICD-9-CM Coding.

 

 

INTERMEDIATE CPT/HCPCS CODING:

 

            This intermediate CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) coding class will address in more detail the Health Care Financing Administration requirements for reporting Medicare and Medicaid billing for medical and diagnostic services. In this intermediate course, we will discuss some of the more complex coding areas for the CPT/HCPCS Coding. PREREQUISITE: Basic CPT/HCPCS Coding

 

ADVANCED MEDICAL CODING:

 

            Utilizing knowledge of both ICD-9-CM and CPT Coding, this class teaches students how to pull all concepts of coding together. Students will apply basic coding principles, disease processes, medical terminology, and other pertinent coding guidelines to code medical record cases for inpatient, outpatient and physician office coding.

 

 

CPT/ICD-9 REVIEW COURSE:

 

            This class will help you prepare for the Certified Coding Specialist (Certified Coding Specialist/Physician based) CCS/CCSP exam. You’ll review basic ICD-9-CM and CPT coding guidelines. PREREQUISITES: ICD-9-CM Coding classes and CPT/HCPCS classes or equivalent experience. Registration for certification testing is on your own and is not included in your course fee.

 

Why is medical coding done?

     To:

·        Provide a statistical data base.

·        Serve as an information retrieval system.

·        Facilitate payment of health services.

·        Evaluate utilization patterns.

·        Study health care costs.

·        Research the quality of health care.

·        Predict health care trends.

·        Plan for future health care needs.

 

Where is medical coding done ?

·         Hospital

·         Physician’s office

·         Home health care

·         Long term care

·         Insurance firms

 

How is medical coding done?

          • Key medical terms are identified & abstracted from the medical record.

• Specific codes are assigned to each term.

 

Resources of the Medical Coder...

 

·        Physicians’ Current Procedural Terminology (CPT)

·         International Classification of Diseases, 9^th. Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9 CM) .

·         Health Care Procedure Coding System (HCPCS).

·         Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRG’s).

·         Health Insurance Claim Form: HCFA-1500.

·         Health Insurance Claim Form: UB-92 HCFA-1450.

 

 

AKA’s of the Medical Coder

 

·         Health Information Technician.

·         Health Information Coder.

·         Medical Record Coder.

·         Coder / Abstractor.

·         Coding Specialist.

·         Insurance Specialist

 

Qualities of the Medical Coder

 

·         Knowledge of medical terminology

·         Knowledge of anatomy & physiology

·         Detail oriented

·         Accuracy

·         Critical thinking

·         Willingness to learn

·         Self-motivated

·         Flexibility

•        Computer skills

 

 

 

Diseased Cells to synthesize their own drug to treat muscular dystrophy

Florida scientists made Diseased Cells to synthesize their own drug to treat muscular dystrophy

---

(4th September, 2014); Florida Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have considered chemical approach to convert diseased cells to be manufacturing site of a molecule which can treat muscular dystrophy. The promising research was published recently in the international chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie.

In general, small, low molecular weight compounds can pass the blood-brain barrier, while larger, higher weight compounds tend to be more potent. In the new study, however, small molecules became powerful inhibitors when they bound to targets in cells expressing an RNA defect, such as those found in myotonic dystrophy.

Myotonic dystrophy type 2, a relatively mild and uncommon form of the progressive muscle weakening disease, is caused by a type of RNA defect known as a “tetranucleotide repeat,” in which a series of four nucleotides is repeated more times than normal in an individual’s genetic code. In this case, a cytosine-cytosine-uracil-guanine (CCUG) repeat binds to the protein MBNL1, rendering it inactive and resulting in RNA splicing abnormalities that, in turn, results in the disease.

In the study, a pair of small molecule “modules” the scientists developed binds to adjacent parts of the defect in a living cell, bringing these groups close together. Under these conditions, the adjacent parts reach out to one another and, as Disney describes it, permanently hold hands. Once that connection is made, the small molecule binds tightly to the defect, potently reversing disease defects on a molecular level.

“When these compounds assemble in the cell, they are 1,000 times more potent than the small molecule itself and 100 times more potent than our most active lead compound,” said Research Associate Suzanne Rzuczek, the first author of the study. “This is the first time this has been validated in live cells.”

The basic process used by Disney and his colleagues is known as “click chemistry”—a process invented by Nobel laureate K. Barry Sharpless, a chemist at TSRI, to quickly produce substances by attaching small units or modules together in much the same way this occurs naturally

“In my opinion, this is one unique and a nearly ideal application of the process Sharpless and his colleagues first developed,” Disney said.

Given the predictability of the process and the nearly endless combinations, translating such an approach to cellular systems could be enormously productive, Disney said. RNAs make ideal targets because they are modular, just like the compounds for which they provide a molecular template.

Not only that, he added, but many similar RNAs cause a host of incurable diseases such as ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), Huntington’s disease and more than 20 others for which there are no known cures, making this approach a potential route to develop lead therapeutics to this large class of debilitating diseases.

Reference: Suzanne G. Rzuczek, HaJeung Park, Matthew D. Disney. A Toxic RNA Catalyzes the In Cellulo Synthesis of Its Own Inhibitor. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2014; DOI: 10.1002/anie.201406465

---