Hi Bhavana
Sorry for the late reply. I saw this thread last nite only.
Well I have been in Medical coding(clinical Coding Specialist) since 1999 in S'pore. I understand that you live in USA. I dont know abt the situation in US but I have seen ads offering online training for coding.
I will give the scenario in S'pore so that you will have a picture.
People with basic medical degrees which are not registerable with Singapore Medical Council (all the medical universities in India except 2, Burma and Indonesia etc) are doing Clinical Coding in the Govenment and private hospitals. The roles and responsibilities vary with each hospital. The position involves not only coding, but some analysis, audit and the ability to form firm decisions with the best interest of the patient in mind.
You have not mentioned abt your educational background but you need to have a thorough knowledge in medicine for coding. You should be able to understand the diagnosis(illness/diseases) of the inpatient, any other additional diagnoses, course of treatment, any medical/ surgical interventions(operations), post operative complications if any, the type of management done for that and finally until the patient is discharged. You should be able to identify any variances in the course of treatment apart from usual.
You can use a specific software for assigning codes for the above mentioned, complying with the coding standards (must be well versed and able to keep abreast of changes). Finally you will compute and assign specific DRG (Diagnosis Related Group ) for the patient, based on which he will be approved the appropriate amount of withdrawal from his medisave account for his hospital stay.
I have given a simplified picture but you know that each and very job has its nuances. I am sorry that I am not able to answer you in US context.
Best of Luck.
14th January 2008, 01:32 PM
medical coding 
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