What Is Diagnostic Coding

  • Medical Billing and Coding
  • March 11, 2024
  • 3.0k views
  • 1 min read
What is EHR

Coding is one compartment of a complex system all falling under the Medical Billing/Insurance Specialist title. A medical coder is a health care professional whose main duty is to analyze medical records and assign codes using a standardized diagnostic or procedural manual. This process is taught at Northwest Career College in Las Vegas.

 

The use of the ICD10 was implemented on October 1, 2015. This revision allowed for much greater specificity in coding allowing better statistical data to be collected. However, it caused quite a stir increasing the choice of codes from approximately 13,000 to about 68,000!

 

For example, a medical coder would use an International Classification of Disease’s 10th Revision manual in order to assign a diagnostic code to a patient’s medical condition or symptoms.  This helps maximize the benefits available to the patient as well as the physician.

 

This change alone increased the need for and opened many job opportunities for trained medical coders graduating from schools like Northwest Career College.

 

Nancy Ferrante
Author
Medical Billing & Coding Senior Program Chair

Nancy began her career as a Medical Assistant in 1979. From there, Nancy mastered many other areas of the medical field. She spent 35 years in Ohio, building a successful medical practice with the same Physician until his retirement in… Read Full Bio


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