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Why should I become a medical coder?

A very common question that arises in one’s mind when looking at any advertisement on “Wanted Clinical Coders” or “Vacancies for Medical (Clinical) Coding – Fresher” or if someone says I am doing a coding course - “Why should I become a Clinical Coder?” – this is the first question that comes to any job seeker s mind. “I haven’t studied coding then how will I get a job?”- is the second question. “Am I eligible or how do I know that?” – is the third question and many more depending on your IQ level and the way you question opportunities in life.

In this blog, I have tried to answer almost all your other questions too that bother you a lot during the journey of becoming a Clinical Coder.

In fact, with my experience in UAE, very commonly housewives who are graduates approach an Institution to learn Coding or a Medical Centre/ Hospital/ Insurance for a Clinical Coder job referred by the husband or his friends or family friends. The trend I have seen in UAE is many graduate housewives once they deliver a baby, plan to leave their baby with the Mother or Mother in law and start their career. If the girl is a graduate of Medical or Para Medical or Life Science, the first option that comes to mind is to look for a job in any Hospital or Medical Centre. Next obstacle that they face is believing that all jobs in a hospital or in medical field requires passing DHA exam- whereas in Coding it doesn’t require.

There is no Government exam to certify a Clinical Coder in any of the GCC countries or any emirate of UAE, be it DHA of Dubai or DOH of Abu Dhabi. So, no worries of revising your college syllabus as other disciplines of Medicine require.

Clinical Coding is a certificate by itself offered by certified, registered, accredited training schools.

Seems easy and interesting right!

Now let’s understand a bit more using the 5W’s and 1H model-

• Anyone who is from a Medical (MBBS/ BDS), Para Medical (Physiotherapist, Pharmacy, Lab technician) or Life Science Graduate (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Bio Medical Engineering, Zoology, Botany, Microbiology and so on.) not to ignore any graduate or any Engineer or MBA who can understand and perform the role of a coder.
• In fact, anyone interested to learn and work in Healthcare Sector.
• Interest comes first, degree or knowledge only second.

• Preferably a Medical, Para Medical or Life Science Graduate as per few job portals but the truth anyone who can understand RCM and perform the role of a clinical coder.

• Certified, experienced trainers

• Every organization has a technical round which involves testing your coding knowledge with a test followed by a Coding Manager or Team lead conducting oral technical round and later on their recommendation, the HR team finalizes the candidate.

• Anyone whom you trust has the right knowledge about the field take care in identifying the right person- (a wrong direction leads to a wrong destination).
• Or simply write an email to elearning@knwbility.com for any guidance required or visit website www.knwbility.com where you will find this blog of FAQs posted if you wish to share with your friends or relatives.

• Medical Coding is the translation of medical data into codes or numbers.
• Every sign, symptom or disease in the world has a diagnosis code including the new Corona virus and every service or treatment done by the physician has a procedure code.
• For example, HIV positive is coded as B20 in ICD 10 CM. Converting into a code hides the disease information and makes it confidential. Except Clinical Coders and those who know coding, B20 remains just a code while being processed. This is called PHI (Protected Health Information).
• Clinical Coding is often confused with Software Coding. They are completely different therefore when you search for job profiles or training schools please use the term Clinical Coding or Medical Coding otherwise you will end up in learning Java or other software coding programs.
• Clinical coder also needs to know about the software used in Healthcare billing. Many hospitals store the medical files in a billing software like EHR (Electronic Health Record) or EMR (Electronic Medical Record) in HIMS billing system which is accessed by the coder to read and convert into codes.
• Coder inputs the codes in the hospital billing software for the next team in RCM to access the data for claim processing enabling smooth process flow in RCM.
• In short, a Clinical Coder reads the medical record documented by the physician and converts all necessary medical data into codes for Insurance claim processing.

• Knowledge on reading and understanding a clinical document and converting them to Clinical Codes applying Coding Guidelines is the first and foremost step in becoming a Clinical Coder.

• o Clinical Coding is available in many nations like U.S, U.K, UAE, Australia, Germany, Canada, Sweden, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and many more.

• Basic Anatomy, Medical Terminology &Abbreviations and respective Coding manuals (just the usage nothing to memorize).
• Coding software like Encoder Pro, Flash Code, 3M are available to help you when you actually do coding. Don’t worry looking at the size of the coding texts or manuals. You just have to input the disease term like fever or cold and the software helps you with the narrow code ranges that enclose this term for you to select the right one to match with the clinical record.
• Once you start working as a coder, you also need to know how to handle the software used in the billing system to
• Please find below the versions of Coding manuals with respect to countries
• U.S – CPT/ ICD 10 CM (current year version 2020)
• U.K – English Coding
• UAE – CPT/ ICD 10 CM (2018 version effective April 1, 2020)
• Australia – ICHI/ ICD 10 AM/ACS (11th Edition)
• Germany – ICD 10 GM/ OPS-301
• Canada – ICD 10 CA/ CCI
• Sweden – ICD/ICPC
• New Zealand – ICD10AM/ACHI (8th Edition)
• Saudi Arabia – ICD 10AM / ACHI (10th Edition)

• Given below is the diagrammatic representation of RCM cycle as a whole.
• Each of these 12 teams are the various components in the RCM cycle.
• This explains how well coordinated the teams should be in delivering patient care and claiming physician’s reimbursement.
• 

• Anytime when registration for a batch starts

• Usually it depends on the content, could vary from 3months to one year depending on the version of Coding and the country’s guidelines.

• As they say, when the student is ready the master arrives; similarly, Job is ready when you are ready. This is one profession where you have openings throughout the year.
• Few job seekers would deny stating – “I have been certified and I am looking for a job for many months, I didn’t get one”. To all those who say this, I only have one statement – “At the same time one says no vacancies, somewhere someone is being hired being a Clinical Coder in the same country”. Many of us have certain criteria in mind while looking for a job.
• Few job seekers have peculiar wishes on high salary when they start the career, distance from home to office, working hours, designation, reputation of the Organization and many more. Desires never end or fade but one has to understand the market, current salary packages and be flexible in grabbing opportunities. As the Organization needs you, you also need the Organization, it’s a mutual win. Just start!

• As just mentioned in the previous statement, anytime and all time. Keep looking at announcements in training schools or job portals.

• When you are confident that you can manage coding, as being confident cannot happen in a course period of 3 months or 6 months.
• Just be confident to handle charts and believe yourself. Rest you can learn as you work.

• Clinical Coding isn’t available as a course in any college, it’s a professional certification course by itself. It is better to get educated in any training school for Clinical Coding and if possible, along with Clinical Documentation courses so that you don’t face any challenges while you work.
• Your growth would be faster when compared to your colleague who did not learn it before the job. Always knowing the basics of your job improves your efficiency.
• “INVEST NOW TO REAP LATER”- Don’t hesitate to invest in a course to reap better in future.

• This is just a myth and not a fact. Clinical Coding can be done by anyone who is interested to learn and handle Medical Records and Codes. Many engineers and MBAs have successfully cleared coding certification exams in the first attempt while few doctors have failed. Too much knowledge is also a curse sometimes.
• Therefore, please don’t believe such statements and restrict yourself, maybe Organizations would advertise as “preferably Science or Life Science graduates” keeping in mind that Clinical Coding involves reading medical records but if you have the interest and knowledge, why not? Please go ahead and join Clinical Coding courses for a bright future.

• Online training gives you LMS access which can be read multiple times whenever you need clarity while a trainer in a face to face session teaches only once.
• Online Training can be done at your comfort at home or while travel at your convenient time unlike direct sessions which force your timings.
• Usually online training schools give you chance for multiple attempts while answering a quiz, with different questions from a question pool which might not be the case of direct sessions.
• Just take care the LMS (Learning Management System), the online learning tool is compatible to your gadget and this school answers your clarifications with an online trainer when necessary.

• We have to believe the fact that Clinical Coding is not available as a course in any college and is totally new. Having an online trainer support will smoothen your road of learning and help you move ahead when you are struck not understanding few concepts.
• Discussing test results is a very important role of an online trainer as we learn more from mistakes while being tested.

• RCM cycle diagram referred in the earlier part of this article shows how well knitted all departments of RCM should be.
• Clinical Coding is converting medical data into codes for which cost is mapped to be reimbursed form Insurance companies in countries where RCM is the billing system. To learn more about what is RCM and it’ s role, please refer to (give the previous blog link for RCM article).

• Any training school offering coding course and is recognized by the nation’s educational body and is committed to provide quality education.

• In job portals or websites of Training schools or directly on the Organization’s website

• Wherever an insurance card is mandatory for Medical Expenses and physician reimbursement is necessary.
• In simple, few countries have made insurance mandatory and physicians are not paid by cash for the service or treatment they give. Using the patient’s insurance card, physician or his RCM team has to get it collected from the patient’s insurance company.
• To claim money from Insurance, the physician or his RCM team will have to share the patient information along with Insurance, Treatment, problem being treated and it’ s cost.
• Treatment and problems are converted to codes to be shared to the Insurance company for easy processing and to maintain confidentiality which arises the need for Clinical Coding and coders.

• This Clinical Coding originated in England in the 17th century but came into light when WHO (World Health Organization) adopted codes for statistical data collection and analysis.

• In the respective countries. For example –
  • U.S – CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
  • UAE – DHA (Dubai Health Authority in Dubai) & DOH (Department of Health in Abu Dhabi)
  • Saudi Arabia – MOH (Ministry of Health)

• Depends on the country, in UAE it starts from AED 3500 to AED 6500 depending on the version of Coding selected and the mode of training - Online or Face to face and slightly higher when blended (Combination of both).
• Usually it can be completed in 3 to 6 months.
• Fast or crash course of one month is also available in many countries for fast learners.

• Visit the respective website, select the course, got to cart, pay the fee and enroll. Its very simple.
• Check out courses available in – https://lms.knwbility.com/login/index.php

• It could be monthly or weekly or hourly. Depends on the country’s payment mode. In UAE or any GCC countries, basic monthly package is aed 4,500 -6,000 or equivalent depending on your proficiency.
• Few government organizations in UAE even pay a clinical coder aed 9,000 -12,000 per month.

• Clinical Coding starts from being a Junior Coder to reaching heights of becoming a CEO or Director of Coding.
• It’s important to be with “Right people at the Right time at the Right place” for success. Good luck!

• Whatever be the reason for recession, disease and hospitals are perennial. Can you imagine a world without diseases?
• The current active Corona is a right example to answer this question. The more careful human mankind is, the larger and complex are the challenges. Many nations have announced staying indoors where doctors and nurses are working for us. Coders are required to support such physicians get their hard efforts paid.
• Don’t panic thinking, “should I go to the hospital if I am a coder even in crisis?” Not necessary- some organizations assign work from home. Clinical Coders don’t deal with patients directly but with patient’s records.
• 

Clinical Coding is thus a promising job profile at least for this generation and no doubts for generations to come.

According to the recent Healthcare conferences, countries that do not have a billing system for their Healthcare are also planning to identify a suitable RCM model. This in turn increases the vacancies for all components of RCM not leaving Coding behind, which is the backbone of RCM (Revenue Cycle Management.

In simple words, if I have to put it straight- Clinical Coders will be required for coding medical records until disease and preventive measures exist in this world.

Can you think of a world without illness or prevention? Similarly, you cannot think of a world of Medicine and Insurance processing RCM cycle without Clinical Coders. “THAT IS THE JOB SECURTY” this profile gives.

Enjoy your career as a CLINICAL CODER. Join the group today – (please share our social media links.)

References – https://library.ahima.org/doc?oid=60285#.XnhJTEBuJYc