Medical coders review health records and assign numeric codes to diagnoses and procedures.
These universally recognized codes provide information for reimbursement of insurance claims, indexing statistics and research and tracking patient care. Doctors entrust their medical reimbursement responsibilities to medical coders who understand the process and know how to do it accurately and effectively. The Bureau of Labor Statistics ranks health information technicians among the 20 fastest growing occupations in the country. Due to the rapid growth in the number of medical tests, treatments and procedures reviewed by third-party payers, regulators and courts, job prospects for trained coders is expected to grow much faster than average for all occupations through 2008. The IUSB Continuing Education Medical Coding Specialist program is designed primarily for individuals already employed in health care and insurance agencies who are assuming coding duties.