What Technology Is Used in Medical Coding & Billing?

In health care, narrative descriptions of patient medical diagnoses and procedures are converted to codes for billing purposes. The bills are then sent to insurance payers for reimbursement. Technology is widely used in both medical coding and billing.

Coding Software

• Medical coding uses software, called encoders, to help assign numeric and alphanumeric codes to diseases and treatments. A medical coder inputs diagnosis or procedure text into the system and the encoder provides associated codes.

Decision Support

• Medical coding technology provides decision support assistance. While coding, a coder may be given direction from the software for increased accuracy. For example, if a patient has an infection, the coding software may direct the coder to assign the type of bacteria.

Automated Reimbursement Assignment

• Coding technology has automated reimbursement assignment for associated codes. Reimbursement formulas, calculated with various factors such as type of provider and location, are entered into software for automatic tabulation.

Automated Charge Master Assignment

• Some resources in health care are not assigned codes by medical coders. Instead, items like cotton balls and latex gloves are assigned codes and reimbursement automatically through technology called charge master systems.

Electronic Claims Transmission

• Medical billing technology allows for electronic submission of billing claims. This technology increases the efficiency of bill submission, which results in faster claim reimbursement.