Medical Coding Specialist Certificate of Achievement

The Medical Coding Specialist Certificate of Achievement provides education for an entry-level position in a variety of healthcare settings such as acute care hospitals, physician offices, long-term care facilities, ambulatory care facilities, and more. The Medical Coding Specialist Program prepares students to abstract appropriate medical documentation and assign diagnostic and procedural codes in accordance with official coding and reporting guidelines and compliance regulations in order to facilitate reimbursement, analysis of patient outcomes, and research. Additionally, the Medical Coding Specialist Program helps prepare students for a variety of entry-level medical coding certification examinations. After earning a medical Coding Specialist Certificate of Achievement students may be eligible to write for entry to a sorted array of medical coding certification exams such as the American Health Information Management Association’s Certified Coding Associate (CCA), Certified Coding Specialist (CCS), Certified Coding Specialist-Physician Based (CCS-P), and AAPC’s CPC or CPC-A and more.

To achieve the Medical Coding Specialist Certificate of Achievement students must meet the following requirements:
• Conditional Enrollment: As a condition of enrollment in any Allied Health Program, students are required to submit to and pass a designated drug and alcohol screening, a background screening, and physical examination clearance (at the student’s expense). Please note the following: • A history of felony conviction(s), exclusion, or other ineligibility for federal program participation could render a student ineligible for clinical placement, as determined by the clinical agencies. • If a student cannot obtain background clearance from the clinical agencies, it will not be possible to place the student in the clinical areas, which is a required component of the program. In the event that a student cannot obtain a background clearance, the space will be forfeited. Students who are found to be ineligible for clinical placement by the clinical agency after admission to the program shall be subject to dismissal from the program, as they will be unable to complete mandatory clinical rotations. • A physical examination completed by a physician of the student’s choice is required after acceptance to the Program to demonstrate that a student meets the technical standards necessary to meet the Program objectives. Appropriate immunizations and/or vaccinations and mask fit testing are also required and are performed at the student’s expense.
• Students must also obtain a minimum grade point average of 2.0 with a grade of C or higher in all courses required for the Medical Coding Specialist Certificate of Achievement. A "P" is not an acceptable grade for courses in this program. Upon completion of the required program courses with at least a ‘C’ grade in each course, the student will be awarded a Medical Coding Specialist Certificate of Achievement.

The current faculty and facilities allow for the program to enroll up to 10 students per semester, with a planned student completion in 4 semesters. This schedule would allow the program to have 10-20 completers per year with a maximum of 20 completers per year. Adding medical coding students to the HIT courses has the potential to limit HIT program students' enrollment abilities and possibly reduce HIT program completion times without having the additional faculty to offer additional courses if/when demand increases to more than 10 medical students enrolling each semester.

The hiring of one full-time faculty member and the current facilities would allow for the program to enroll up to 35 students per semester, with a planned student completion in 4 semesters. This schedule would allow the program to have up to 35 completers per semester with a maximum of 70 completers per year, within 1-3 years of the program's initiation.

Upon Completion of this program, students will be able to:

• Apply biomedical knowledge to the process of clinical code assignment.
• Assign diagnosis and procedure codes using the International Classifications of Diseases, 10^th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) and the International Classification of Diseases, 10^th Revision, Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-PCS) official coding guidelines for inpatient and outpatient records.
• Assign procedure and service codes using Current Procedural Terminology (CPT).
• Use and maintain electronic applications and work processes to support clinical classifications and coding.
• Demonstrate professional and behavioral skills and adhere to the necessary ethical standards of coding for employment as a medical coder.

Program Goals:
Students who complete a Medical Coding Specialist Certificate will be prepared for a career in the health information field.

Program Emphasis:
The program curriculum prepares students to process and maintain the medical records of hospital and clinic patients in a manner consistent with medical, administrative, ethical, legal, and regulatory requirements of the health care system.

Career Options:
Upon successful completion of certificate or degree in the program, students may find employment in health information departments as a release of information specialist, document imaging specialist, entry-level coder, health information supervisor, clinical coding specialist, medical data analyst, data quality/integrity associate, clinical documentation specialist, cancer registry coordinator, or risk/compliance assistant.

The mission of the Bakersfield College Medical Coding Specialist Certificate of Achievement Program is in alignment with the College mission by providing students from diverse economic, cultural, and educational backgrounds with progressive, comprehensive, and high-quality courses needed to help students to obtain professional coding certification(s), prepare students for an impactful future in the medical coding profession, assure academic and personal growth, and promote life-long learning and the pursuit of advanced learning opportunities.