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Medical coding is like translation. People behind medical coding take medical reports and convert them into a set of codes. In a medical claim, these codes play a great role. In this article, we are going to take a look at medical coding and the relevant statistics. Read on to know more.
The Reason to Code Medical Reports
You may be wondering why we need to code medical reports. Isn’t it enough to just describe the diagnoses, symptoms, and procedures? After all, these reports can be sent to an insurance company.
According to the reports released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), over the past 12 months, there were more than 1.4 billion patients who visited hospitals. This includes patients who visit emergency rooms, outpatient facilities, and physician offices.
Suppose there are only 5 pieces of coded info against each visit. It would be a whopping 6 billion pieces of info that the professional would need to transfer each year. This estimate is unrealistically low, though. So, medical coding helps make it easier to transfer a lot of data.
In addition, coding lets you disperse the same documents among various medical institutions. For example, if you’re in Hawaii or Arkansas, the strep throat code is the same. You may do research and study in an effective way with the aid of uniform data. Health and public authorities use the information to take a look at developments in health. For example, the ICD-10-CM code will aid them if the CDC wants to study the propagation of viral pneumonia.
Finally, coding will allow you to determine if the medication is successful. Indeed, for vast facilities such as hospitals, this is much more critical.
We must now proceed to learn more about three forms of coding. You can find this material very helpful if you are a medical coder.
Three Types of Code
ICD
The International Disease Classification ICD is short. These medical codes offer a consistent description of the potential causes of death, infection or injuries. This code was developed in the 1940s by the World Health Organization (WHO). It has been updated many times over the last 60 years.
The diagnosis and condition of the patient are described by these codes. These codes allow clinicians to identify the need for medical attention for the billing process.
CPT
CPT is short for Current Procedure Terminology. These codes are used in order to document most of the medical procedures at a doctor’s office. The American Medical Association (AMA) published and maintained this code. So, AMA reserves the copyrights and updates the codes on a yearly basis.
HCPCS
The International Disease Classification ICD is short. These medical codes offer a consistent description of the potential causes of death, infection or injuries. This code was developed in the 1940s by the World Health Organization (WHO). It has been updated many times over the last 60 years.
The diagnosis and condition of the patient are described by these codes. These codes allow clinicians to identify the need for medical attention for the billing process.