MEDICAL CODING  

Ms. V. Vidhya

Asst Professor

Department of MBA – SIMS

Sankara College of Science and Commerce

Medical coding is an emerging field in the Healthcare sector. It is the process of transforming health diagnosis, treatment, procedures and medical services into alphanumeric codes. In simple words it is the translating important medical information’s into meaningful codes for the purpose of medical records documentation and for proper medical billing. The medical coding has the fast pace development in foreign countries rather than in India. There the medical records of the individual are maintained so as to get the full health information as and when required by the physician. It is said that one’s personal health information follows them by subsequent complaints and treatments and it should be easily understood for the future references.

The coding is done by using the different types of codes like ICD – 10 CM, CPT, ICD – 10 PCS, HCPCS LEVEL II, CDT, NDC. The coding is done by specialist medical coders who will be certified by the medical coding institutions. It is the responsibility of the medical coders to transform the physicians report to useful medical codes. After the medical officer treats the patient it is the responsibility of the insurance company to pay the bill for the treatment. To enable the insurance company to pay the bills it needs to understand what has been done to the particular patient. The medical coder converts the medical reports in coding and gives the information in a useful and efficient way.

India has become huge hub for BPO companies for medical coding, medical claims, medical billing and medical transcription services. This in turn improves the efficiency of healthcare providers and insurance providers for other countries.

The skills required to the medical coder are attention to detail, technical skills and analytical skills. The coder should  read the medical reports thoroughly and then should assign the code hence if wrongly assigned it will create problems to both, patients and doctors.

The demand for the medical coders is increasing day by day in India. With the growth of insurance sector in India it is predicted that in upcoming years our healthcare industry might be based on the insurance and we might also do medical coding in various areas of healthcare.  There is a tremendous career growth in the medical coding streams. We have separate medical coding certificates for  doing coding and one has to get certificate to join in the medical coding stream. The life science students can opt for medical coding and can pursue their career in coding as they will have basic knowledge in physiology and anatomy.

To conclude, in this fast-growing world if one individual wants to sustain in the growing pace he/she need to upgrade his knowledge with the growing world. Medical coding is yet another excellent career option for those who are interested in healthcare and life sciences. The need for the medical coders will rise with the increasing quality of healthcare services. The scope for medical coding is increasing exponentially in India in the recent times.