Medical coding is one profession which has lots of scope and
can be looked forward with great hopes. With ever-growing health care industry,
there will be growth in all the allied services of health care industry. Few of
them are medical transcription, medical billing and coding. Let us take a look
at how Medical coding industry would
do in coming days:
Picture courtesy: EMR news – Google search
Increase
in life expectancy:
According
to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States of America, the average
life expectancy has increased to 78.8 years in 2014 from 69.7 years in 1960. Also,
people who are aged above 55 years would make up to 38.2 percent of the
population in 2024. This means that there would be many older people who need healthcare
services to live a healthy and active life. This is would further mean that
there will be more requirement for Medical coding services.
Health
insurance coverage:
After
the Affordable Care Act also known as ‘Obamacare’ has been passed in 2010, more
people in the USA have come under the purview of healthcare services access.
This Act increased the number of people being covered by insurance because the
government penalizes those who are not covered by insurance barring a few
exceptional cases. This also means that there will be an increase in the Medical coding jobs since medical
coders plays a key role in the settlement of insurance claims.
ICD:
The
USA has started using the ICD-10-CM since 2015, and it has more than 70, 000
codes that have to be learnt by medical coders and used appropriately to stay
in the Medical coding services which
is an industry that needs people who are always on their toes and updated with
all the codes so as to provide accurate medical records and help in faster
settlement of the insurance claims.
Picture
courtesy: New Hanover Regional Medical Center
Automated
coders vs. human coders:
With
day-by-day advancement in technology, there is always a debate on what
processes that are handled by humans can be replaced by robots. And one such
process is related to the Medical coding
jobs. Many people opine that medical coders should be replaced by robots.
But, this may not be a wise thing to do, because, medical coding is equally an
art as it is science. Physicians are humans who cannot be perfect all the time
and do perfect documentation. There may be some subtle areas which require
humans to interpret the doctors’ documentation. Hence, there will always be a
need for good medical coders who can adapt to the ever-changing industry and
provide their excellent services.
All
the factors pointed above hint that the demand for well-qualified and
well-experienced medical coders will be on the rising side in the coming years.
People who are always on the learning side and adept at mastering the new ICD
codes and CPTs will always be sought after. Avontix is one of the best
companies which provides world-class Medical
coding services and wonderful growth opportunities to its employees.
Visit: Avontix