The Importance of an Outpatient Medical Coder Credential (COC)
Outpatient Medical Coders are among the highest demand in the medical industry. Why? Since physicians often leave their private practice to join hospital groups, they need someone to handle the medical coding and billing at their new location. That’s where an Outpatient Medical Coder credential (COC®) step in.
Read on to learn more about what COCs are, the career opportunities you’ll have with a credential and what you’ll learn with a COC credential course.
What Are Outpatient Medical Coders?
According to the American Healthcare Documentation Professionals Group, “(outpatient medical coders) ensure that the healthcare industry has accurate and timely medical data. Medical coders translate a health provider’s descriptions of diseases, injuries, and procedures into numeric and alphanumeric code. The medical code is used for many reasons, such as mortality data, procedural data, and access to medical records by diagnoses and procedures for use in clinical care, research and education.”
Outpatient Medical Coder Opportunities
The American Healthcare Documentation Professionals Group also states that “(outpatient) medical coders have experienced a surge in career opportunities since the federal government’s mandate to electronically maintain all patient health records.” Career opportunities for COCs are often found in outpatient facilities such as Ambulatory Surgical Centers or hospital outpatient billing and coding departments. According to the 2018 Medical Coding Salary Survey, COCs make an average of $59,125 per year.
What Will I Learn with a COC Credential?
A COC credential validates your knowledge as an outpatient coder in addition to your CPT, ICD-10 and HCPCS Level II coding skills. This course will prepare you to pass the national board exam on the first try. Here is what’s covered in the one-day COC credential course from Medical Coding Academy:
- Payment Methodology
- Compliance & Regulatory
- CPT Outpatient Guidelines (Hospital & Facility based)
- ICD-10-CM Outpatient Guidelines (Hospital & Facility based)
- HCPCS Level II Guidelines (Hospital & Facility based)
- Medical Terminology
- Anatomy & Physiology
- Modifiers
If you’re interested in a career as an Outpatient Medical Coder, sign up for our COC course today!
