Diploma - Healthcare Coding

Program Goals
The program will:

• Provide students with an opportunity to develop coding skills through the practices of coding and interpretation of health records.
• Provide a balanced focus on coding in a physician’s office and acute care setting for both inpatient and outpatient coding.
• Provide students with the capabilities to identify the importance of coding documentation and its impact on reimbursement.
• Provide students with an understanding of the ethical and regulatory issues in coding practices.
• Provide students with the necessary background in health record content, medical terminology, and disease process.
• Provide students with the necessary skills to develop oral and written communication skills.

Student Learning Outcomes
The graduates of the program will:

• Demonstrate knowledge of standardized terminology, nomenclature, classification systems, and clinical vocabularies.
• Apply understanding of clinical classification systems and clinical vocabularies that support the collection and retrieval of health information.
• Recognize the common use and apply the coding process for the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS), and Evaluation and Management (E/M) coding systems.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the history, purpose, structure, content, and uses of coding methodologies.
• Demonstrate a foundational knowledge in the accurate use of encoding software.
• Apply knowledge of fraud and abuse of coding practices and compliance program for unethical practices.
• Demonstrate the importance of quality clinical data and coded information.
• Demonstrate an understanding of coding within the reimbursement and billing processes.
• Show proficiency in written and oral communication.