The Health Information Technology Coding Diploma program is designed to prepare graduates for jobs in the coding sector of the healthcare field. The Diploma program graduate, with the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) recommended experience, is eligible to sit for the “CCS” (Certified Coding Specialist) and/or the “CCS-P” (Certified Coding Specialist - Physician based) mastery level certified coding specialist examinations. Technicians who specialize in coding are often called data analysts, health information coders, medical record coders, coder/abstractors, or coding specialists.
Certified Coding Specialists are professionals skilled in classifying medical data from patient records, generally in the hospital setting. These coding practitioners review patients’ records and assign appropriate codes for each diagnosis and procedure. The CCS-P is a coding practitioner with expertise in physician-based settings such as physician’s offices, group practices, multi-specialty clinics, or specialty centers.
Graduates of this program will be able to transfer all course credits into the higher level, AAS degree in HIT, program.