Powerful Trends to Consider in Medical Coding

The healthcare industry is offering excellent opportunities for many professionals. Careers in medical coding are quite dynamic as practices, medical billing companies will need excellent coding standardization in the coming years.

  • A report from Bureau of Labor Statistics clearly explains that occupations related to healthcare and associated industries will be adding 16 million jobs by 2022. It is by far the largest that any industry will be generating in the next ten years.
  • The ambiance is quite favorable and you must be looking at lucrative benefits that this healthcare as a standalone industry will be offering. In fact, it can be safely said that medical coders will be in high demand.
  • The recent developments, especially with the emergence of ICD-10, create a challenging environment and every medical coder must be well acquainted with the current prerequisites that will improve medical claims in the longer run.
  • Experienced coders will tell you that it’s a constant learning process. New changes and transitions are pretty evident and as a coder, you must develop your skills and have a natural zeal to know more. Coding in itself is a huge subject.

 You will be required to grab attention by knowing the fundamental requirements and immediate changes that diagnosis and procedure codes. Keeping up with crucial information is one of the major attributes that every coder must be well acquainted.

Recent updates in CPT codes

There is nothing static in the CPT coding world. At present, there are thousands of codes in CPT that are in use. It is important to note that it is more frequent that ICD in its update process. A perfect example will be the category III codes in CPT. It gets updated by every six months.

They are often called as emerging technology codes and are never considered to be permanent. If it moves in category I in five years time, it can be considered as permanent. It will be a pertinent approach for a medical coder to stay up to date or they might risk improper coding leading to faulty claims submission.

Impact of ICD-10

While ICD-9 had 14025 diagnostic codes and 3824 procedure codes, ICD-10 combines 69,823 diagnostic and 71,924 procedure codes. It is pretty clear that medical coders will need to learn a lot of new codes.

  • The medical billing industry is also fast shaping up and requires quality coders that understand the immediate job at hand, to master ICD-10 and implement it with functional best practices in place.
  • Specific descriptions will be the need of the hour. The transition surely isn’t a smooth one but on the other side it has opened up an encouraging market for new coders to arrive and make a genuine difference. Physicians and practices will panic due to loss of reimbursements as a result of incorrect coding and it will eventually create a thriving environment for medical coders.

A lot of changes are expected with the repeal and replacement debates of the Affordable care Act. ACA has boosted timeliness and accuracy in payments. The new changes expected soon, coders with an exceptional eye for procedure accuracy is going to lay down a strong foundation.

 



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