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What do Medical Billing and Coding and Transcriptionists do? Some medical records and health information technicians specialize in coding patients' medical information for insurance purposes. Technicians who specialize in medical coding are called health information coders, medical record coders, coder/abstractors, or coding specialists. These technicians assign a code to each diagnosis and procedure. They consult classification manuals and also rely on their knowledge of disease processes. Technicians then use computer software to assign the patient to one of several hundred "diagnosis-related groups," or DRGs. The DRG determines the amount for which the hospital will be reimbursed if the patient is covered by Medicare or other insurance programs using the DRG system. Job prospects for medical coding should be very good. Employment of medical records and health information technicians is expected to grow much faster than average for all occupations through 2014 because of rapid growth in the number of medical tests, treatments, and procedures that will be increasingly scrutinized by health insurance companies, regulators, courts, and consumers. Also, technicians will be needed to enter patient information into computer databases to comply with Federal legislation mandating the use of electronic patient records. Medical Secretary is one of U.S. News and World Report "100 Best Jobs of 2013."
Education and Training: Entry-level medical records and health information technicians usually have an associate degree. Many employers favor technicians who have a Registered Health Information Technicians (RHIT) credential.
Medical records and health information technicians generally have an associate degree. Typical coursework in health information technology includes medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, health data requirements and standards, clinical classification and coding systems, data analysis, healthcare reimbursement methods, database security and management, and quality improvement methods.
Experienced medical records and health information technicians usually advance their careers by obtaining a bachelor’s degree or master’s degree or by seeking an advanced specialty certification. Technicians with a bachelor’s or master’s degree can advance and become a health information manager.
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