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Courses >
Health Care, Nutrition, & Fitness > Medical Coding
 Take
your first step toward a lucrative career as a medical coder! In this
course, you'll learn how to use the CPT manual and the ICD-9-CM to find
medical codes for any disease, condition, treatment, or surgical
procedure. This knowledge will help prepare you to work almost anywhere
in the medical field—doctors' offices, clinics, public health
facilities, hospitals, labs, nursing homes, insurance agencies, or even
the comfort of your own home.
We'll go through each of the main
systems of the human body—integumentary (skin), musculoskeletal,
respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, endocrine, and male and
female genitourinary—outlining the medical terminology, conditions,
diseases, injuries, treatments, and procedures you'll see most often in
each of those systems.
Along the way, we'll go through lots of
real-world examples and coding exercises to get you using your coding
tools in conjunction with your analytical skills to come up with just
the right codes to describe any medical situation. In the process,
you'll get all the hands-on experience you'll need to code medical
insurance claims with confidence. By the end of this course, you'll
know how to find your way through both the CPT manual and the ICD-9-CM
manual, and you'll be well on your way to a career as a medical coder!
Course
content © 2008 Portions by Penn Foster Inc. and Education To Go, a
Division of Cengage Learning, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or
redistribution of any course material without prior written permission
is prohibited.
Recommended Courses:
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HIPAA Compliance
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Medical Terminology: A Word Association Approach
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Syllabus:
All
courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two
lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course.
You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must
complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
A new
section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each
month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure
to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.
| Week One |
| Wednesday - Lesson 01 |
In
our first lesson, we'll explore the history of medical insurance and
medical coding. After that, we'll take a few minutes to get familiar
with the coding books and tools that medical coders use. We'll finish
up the lesson with an important discussion about patient privacy and
confidentiality.
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| Friday - Lesson 02 |
Today
we'll take a close look at how medical professionals use medical codes
in the real world. We'll get to know the common forms medical coders
use and explore the different types of medical codes you'll find in
your coding books. By the time you finish this lesson, you'll
understand how the different types of codes come together on the claim
form and how they tell the insurance company a complete story about any
doctor-patient encounter.
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| Week Two |
| Wednesday - Lesson 03 |
In
this lesson, we'll take a detailed tour through the CPT manual where
you'll find medical codes for the procedures and treatments doctors and
other medical professionals provide their patients. You'll learn all
about the CPT symbols, modifiers, and unlisted procedures. By the end
of this lesson, you'll be looking up your first codes!
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| Friday - Lesson 04 |
Similar
to our last lesson, today we'll take a detailed tour through the other
coding book we'll use in this course, the ICD-9-CM, which is where
you'll find the codes for any disease, illness, condition, or symptom
that a patient may have. You'll learn all about the ICD-9-CM's symbols,
formatting, and other conventions; and you'll learn where to find
E-codes and V-codes. By the end of this lesson, you'll begin to
practice coding diagnoses.
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| Week Three |
| Wednesday - Lesson 05 |
Today
we'll begin a series of lessons that will take us in depth into just
one body system at a time so we can discuss specific medical coding
situations for each area of the human body. In this lesson, we'll
explore the integumentary (skin) system. We'll review the code
categories for the most common skin conditions, infections, injuries,
and procedures, and then we'll practice coding cases that involve
common skin problems.
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| Friday - Lesson 06 |
In
this lesson, you'll learn all about the musculoskeletal system and
study some important musculoskeletal vocabulary. We'll review the code
categories for the most common muscle and bone conditions and injuries,
and then you'll learn how to code the procedures doctors use to treat
common muscle and bone problems.
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| Week Four |
| Wednesday - Lesson 07 |
Today
we'll review the respiratory system, and you'll learn how to code the
most common respiratory conditions and injuries. After that, you'll
practice coding the most common respiratory procedures that doctors use
on their patients.
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| Friday - Lesson 08 |
We'll
explore the cardiovascular system in today's lesson. You'll learn how
to code common heart, vein, and artery conditions and diseases, and
then you'll learn how to code the procedures doctors use most often to
treat these common diagnoses. And as we always do, we'll follow up our
general discussion on cardiovascular diseases and procedures with lots
of coding practice.
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| Week Five |
| Wednesday - Lesson 09 |
In
this lesson, you'll learn all about the digestive system and the
endocrine system. We'll begin by studying some important vocabulary for
both systems, and then we'll review the code categories for the most
common conditions, diseases, and injuries. After that, we'll explore
the procedures doctors perform to fix digestive and endocrine system
problems. We'll end up the lesson with some practice coding both
systems.
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| Friday - Lesson 10 |
In
the last of our system-specific lessons, today we'll review the male
and female genitourinary systems; and learn how to code common
conditions, diseases, and procedures for both systems. We'll also spend
some time discussing maternity and childbirth and the special medical
coding challenges you'll need to consider in those cases.
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| Week Six |
| Wednesday - Lesson 11 |
Ready
to get to know Evaluation and Management codes? Today, you'll learn the
three key components of any E/M service, and I'll provide you with some
helpful charts you can use to narrow down an E/M code range to a final
E/M code. And as you probably guessed, we'll end up the lesson with
plenty of E/M coding practice!
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| Friday - Lesson 12 |
In
our final lesson, you'll find out what's included in a surgical package
and what's not. You'll also learn all about modifiers, and find out why
medical coders use them to let insurance companies know about special
circumstances. Finally, you'll put everything you've learned throughout
the course together by coding some practice scenarios that incorporate
all of the different types of codes!
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This
course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide
you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your
questions. The instructor for this course will be Jennifer Della'Zanna.
 Jennifer
Della'Zanna graduated from Albright College in Reading, PA with a
Bachelor of Arts degree. With 15 years' experience in the health care
industry, she has worked as a medical transcriptionist, receptionist,
medical assistant, practice administrator, biller, and coding
specialist. She has written and edited courses and study guides on
medical coding, transcription, and using technology in health care. She
regularly writes feature articles about health issues for online and
print publications. Jennifer is a member of the American Academy of
Professional Coders and the Association for Healthcare Documentation
Integrity.
Requirements:
Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins
(two free and simple downloads you obtain at
http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and
Get Adobe Reader).
You'll need access to both of the main medical coding books we'll use in this course:
2008 CPT manual, Professional Edition
2008 ICD-9-CM, Physician Edition
The spiral-bound editions are recommended for both books. The 2007 versions are also acceptable for this course.
These
books can also be purchased from the following locations: www.Half.com,
www.Ebay.com, www.Alibris.com, www.abebooks.com, www.chegg.com (you can
rent or buy here).
No prior medical experience is required, but knowledge of medical terminology and human anatomy will be helpful.
Student Reviews:
"Although at times it was difficult, I really enjoyed this
class. Working with workers' compensation claims, I knew this class
would benefit me. This morning I got a bill from a doctor's office. It
contained the following entry: Office visit, established, Level 4
(99214)! Did I ever feel smug recognizing that this was an E/M code.
Jennifer, everything we know and do has been taught to us. I think
"Teacher" should be a hallowed word. I shall always remember you as a
teacher who skillfully guided me through a course that was difficult on
occasion, frustrating on others, but ultimately rewarding. It was with
your words of encouragement that I prevailed and mastered the basics.
My only regret is that we did not meet, but I feel as if I know you as
you've communicated with me and the other students in a very special
way. Thank you for setting me on a path to a new career."
"For me, it has been a difficult but nonetheless rewarding
class. I found your course materials, assignments and supplemental
references to be a great help and can't imagine my succeeding without
Jen's personal assistance and words of encouragement."
"Hello Jen! I just want to take a second and tell you that I
think your class is wonderful. I really enjoy doing this and you make
it easy (as easy as it can be) to understand. It is so challenging and
very much like a puzzle. I think I missed (and now have found) my
calling. It really makes me think."
"I can't say enough good things about Jennifer and her
ability to teach this class. I had absolutely no medical knowledge or
experience and I was able to make 100% on my final exam because of the
way she is able to convey the information in an easy to understand
manner."
"I can't say enough good things about your class! The
instruction was clear and methodical and I feel like I have received a
very good overview of the world of medical coding. As I said before, I
have never had any medical experience or education and I'm happy to say
that I made 100% on the final. Thank you for the many hours you put
into making the course available to us and for providing us with a
quality education. I believe I am on my way to new employment
opportunities. Best wishes to you."
"I found the class educational for the subject. It should be
very helpful in my future endeavors. Thank you for helping me switch my
lines of work later in life."
"I found the course very interesting and would like to
continue to study medical coding. I found Jennifer very interactive
with the class and on a personal note - I have found that to be a key
component of an excellent online class."
"I found this course to be very interesting and informative.
I have been working as a unit secretary on the surgical unit of a local
community hospital for 5 years and being able to approach the kind of
data I am used to dealing with in a completely different way was very
interesting to me."
"If you are interested in learning about medical billing and
coding, you will not find a better place to begin, nor a better person
from whom to learn. Thanks to Jennifer I’ve found a new career. Her
knowledge, gentle coaching and encouragement were key to building my
confidence and my understanding of a complicated subject. Along with my
highest recommendation and appreciation, I give Jennifer five stars!!"
"I have been a certified coder CPC with the AAPC for three
years now. I have been a medical biller for 20+ years now; but, since I
do not code per se, I felt a beginner’s course would help me keep up on
coding. Thanks, the class did do this for me."
"I really enjoyed this class and learned a lot from it as
well. I would really recommend this course to anyone. I took another
online course before that cost so much more and I didn't get nearly as
much as I got from this course."
"I really learned a lot in this course. I was afraid of coding...thought it much too "Hard," but I really enjoyed it."
"I really loved the course. I liked the way the lessons were
layed-out. I feel as though the instructor was excellent in all phases
of the course. I would take another in a minute."
"I thoroughly enjoyed this course and found the instructor
to be very knowledgeable of the material. She was very helpful with any
questions I had, and was VERY encouraging when I wasn't sure I would
make it through the course. I am looking forward to my new career and
have recommended this course to a friend of mine who will be signing up
for it soon. Thank you."
"I truly enjoyed the Medical Coding course and would
definitely recommend Jennifer Della'Zanna as an instructor to anyone
who is considering this course. Actually, I'm going to miss it, but I
am hooked on it now, so I will continue with the process."
"I wanted to thank you for the way you conducted this coding
class. You made it fun and intriguing. There were some obstacles, but
they were challenging to jump."
"Thank you for your expertise and professional organization
of such a course. I have found a "remote" job from an insurance
company. A RN adjudicator is mentoring me. I am so excited."
"Thank you so much, I have spent a lot of money on other courses and did not learn as much as I did in this class."
"The instructor is very helpful, and very friendly, and very
well educated, and it is a great course to take! Especially if you are
working in the health field, it’s a great learning experience! I would
highly recommend anyone to take this course. I thought at the end I
wouldn't know how to code, but you will! It is a very fun, yet very
interesting course! You will learn a lot of information on coding, plus
you will learn some medical terminology too! Definitely two thumbs up!"
"The instructor was great! I thought this was going to be a
difficult class, (it very well could have been) but the instructor was
so good. She answered every single question in a surprisingly quick
time. She knows so much about what she is teaching and you can really
tell she enjoys it. I wish I could comment to help improve the course,
but there is nothing to improve or change."
"This has been a wonderful class. It helped me more than I
expected on my current job and I know it will be a great addition to my
resume. Thank you for keeping it so interesting, I will miss coming
home from work on Wednesdays and Fridays to log on! I'll be watching
for more classes."
"This is an excellent course to take if you are looking at
coding as a career. It is extremely informative and well put together."
"This was a fantastic course!!! I am having to start over
again at age 50 due to downsizing of the company I worked for, and I
wanted to get into a new line of work, and this was a great way to see
if this is really what I’m interested in. The class was everything I
had hoped for!!! THANK YOU!"
"Wow - this course went by so fast!! Thank you so much
Jennifer - I had a great time and I definitely learned a lot!! Because
of this course I got a job! Can you believe that?? When I mentioned I
did medical coding on top of HIPAA and medical terminology I was
offered this job within 3 days!!! I will be working at a tissue bank in
the administrative /quality control department. Thanks again, I hope
you will be able to teach another course!! You are a great, great,
great teacher!!!"
"Wow! What a course. We covered an enormous amount of
material and there were so many exercises to reinforce each lesson. The
instructor was very prompt to answer all of our questions or concerns
on the discussion board. I hope that she will offer more coding courses
or medical related classes. Thank you Jennifer you are an excellent
teacher!"
"Your Teaching Method is EXCELLENT and Very Easy to
Understand! I have two friends in our church that are taking this
course from other institutions and they have been with their course
close to 18 months and one has graduated and last week after the 2nd
lesson I was able to help her understand the Superbill and where to
place the different codes correctly. She stated her Instructor has them
read the material and only interacts if they ask for assistance! I am
enjoying this class very much and looking forward to what more you have
to teach me. THANK YOU!"
"Your teaching method is EXCELLENT and very easy to
understand! I have two friends in our church that are taking this
course from other institutions and they have been with their course
close to 18 months and one has graduated and last week after the 2nd
lesson I was able to help her understand the Superbill and where to
place the different codes correctly…I am enjoying this class very much
and looking forward to what more you have to teach me. THANK YOU!"
To purchase this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
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