As physicians move away from private practices and join hospital groups, career opportunities in outpatient facilities such as ambulatory surgical centers or hospital outpatient billing and coding departments are opening for coders. The Certified Outpatient Coding (COC™) (formerly CPC-H®) exam validates the specialized payment knowledge needed for the outpatient ambulatory coder jobs in addition to your CPT®, ICD-10, and HCPCS Level II coding skills.
The Certified Outpatient Coder (COC) is the only standalone outpatient coding credential in the healthcare industry. The COC certification exam tests the competencies required to perform the job of an outpatient facility coder. Individuals earning the credential have proven expertise in outpatient documentation review, abstract outpatient care encounters (eg, emergency department, outpatient hospitals, and ASCs), coding proficiency with CPT®, HCPCS Level II and ICD-9-CM Volume 1-2, ICD-10 CM and outpatient payment methodologies.
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Difference Between Outpatient Coding and Inpatient Coding
• Categorized under Business,Structure & Systems,Technology | Difference Between Outpatient Coding and Inpatient Coding
The hospital coding and billing is indeed a complex system considering the complexity of the hospital environment. Thousands of individuals are employed at a hospital facility to make sure everything at the facility is well organized and systematic – staring from patient billing process to the reimbursement process. It’s a challenge in itself making sure patient billing process is done and successful reimbursement is claimed at a timely manner.
Coding serves a number of purposes including retrieving and reporting information on the basis of diagnosis and procedure. However, coding involves much more than just the systematic assignment of codes. More complex is the documentation that it follows.
The patient’s medical record is the foundation for coding. And the golden rule of coding is proper documentation. It’s a term used to describe information regarding the patient’s condition, treatment, and response to treatment. Based on whether a patient is an outpatient or an inpatient, the medical codes vary differently. And it’s the role of a certified coder to review medical records of patients and then assign codes to their diagnoses.
Outpatient refers to a patient who is being treated but not admitted under the care of the hospital for an extended stay and is released from the hospital within 24 hours. Even if a patient stays for over 24 hours, he/she can be considered an outpatient. The outpatient coding is based on the ICD-9/10-CM diagnostic codes for billing and appropriate reimbursement, but uses CPT or HCPCS coding system to report procedures. Documentation plays a crucial role in the CPT and HCPCS codes for services.
