Medical Coder

As a Medical Coder you ensure that patients and doctors are getting charged and paid for the right procedures, every time. You’re also in charge of making sure everything is on the up-and-up with the insurance folks regarding which procedures are being covered, claimed, or even defrauded. This makes you, the Medical Coder, a behind-the-scenes worker who ensures that healthcare is dispersed accurately and fairly.

Also sometimes referred to as Health Information Coder, Medical Coding Specialists, Coding Specialists or Health Information Technician, a Medical Coder is responsible for a lot of information. Not only must you know the different billing codes for all the procedures in the hospital, you must organize that information in a useful, clear way. This way records can be tracked and double checked, so you and all relevant parties are sure that all the right pieces are moving in the right ways.

To do all this you have to be savvy when it comes to computer filing systems and well-versed in medical and health terminology. And though you’re not prescribing anything, you must know enough about medical terminology to be able to discern between homonyms and drugs that sound the same but which have totally different effects. That way you can match the prescription and billing of the correct drug to each patient.