Explore a Career in Medical Coding (Self-Paced Tutorial)

1 Medical Coding Basics

The first lesson explores the history of medical insurance and medical coding. After that, take a few minutes to get familiar with the coding books and tools that medical coders use. This lesson finishes up with an important discussion about patient privacy and confidentiality.

2 Coding in the Real World

Today's lesson takes a close look at how medical professionals use medical codes in the real world. Get to know the common form medical coders use and explore the different types of medical codes you will find in your coding books. By the time you finish this lesson, you will understand how the different types of codes come together on a claim and how they tell the insurance company a complete story about any doctor-patient encounter.

3 Getting to Know Your CPT Manual

In this lesson, take a detailed tour through the CPT manual where you will find medical codes for the procedures and treatments doctors and other medical professionals provide their patients. You will learn all about the CPT symbols, modifiers, and unlisted procedures. By the end of this lesson, you will be looking up your first codes!

4 Getting to Know Your ICD-10-CM

Similar to the last lesson, you will take a detailed tour through the other coding book used in this course, the ICD-10-CM, which is where you will find the codes for any disease, illness, condition, or symptom that a patient may have. You will learn all about the ICD-10-CM's symbols, formatting, and other conventions; and you will learn where to find external cause codes and Z-codes. By the end of this lesson, you will begin to practice coding diagnoses.

5 Coding the Integumentary System

Today begins a series of lessons that take you in depth into just one body system at a time, so you can understand specific medical coding situations for each area of the human body. This lesson explores the integumentary (skin) system. You will review the code categories for the most common skin conditions, infections, injuries, and procedures, and then practice coding cases that involve common skin problems.

6 Coding the Musculoskeletal System

In this lesson, you will learn all about the musculoskeletal system and study some important musculoskeletal vocabulary. Review the code categories for the most common muscle and bone conditions and injuries and learn how to code the procedures doctors use to treat common problems.

7 Coding the Respiratory System

Today focuses on the respiratory system, and how to code the most common respiratory conditions and injuries. After that, you will practice coding the most common respiratory procedures that doctors use on their patients.

8 Coding the Cardiovascular System

Explore the cardiovascular system in today's lesson. You will learn how to code common heart, vein, and artery conditions and diseases, and then you will learn how to code the procedures doctors use most often to treat these common diagnoses. As always, this lesson follows up on cardiovascular diseases and procedures with coding practice.

9 Coding the Digestive and Endocrine Systems

In this lesson, you will learn all about the digestive system and the endocrine system. Begin by studying some important vocabulary for both systems, and then review the code categories for the most common conditions, diseases, and injuries. After that, explore the procedures doctors perform to fix digestive and endocrine system problems.

10 Coding the Male and Female Genitourinary Systems

In the last of your system-specific lessons, you will review the male and female genitourinary systems; and learn how to code common conditions, diseases, and procedures for both systems. You will also spend time discussing maternity and childbirth and the special medical coding challenges you will need to consider in those cases.

11 Evaluation and Management (E/M) Codes

Ready to get to know Evaluation and Management codes? Today, you will 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, this lesson ends with plenty of E/M coding practice!

12 Surgical Packages and Modifiers

In the final lesson, you will find out what's included in a surgical package and what's not. You will also learn all about modifiers and find out why medical coders use them to let insurance companies know about special circumstances. Finally, you will put everything you've learned throughout the course together by coding some practice scen