u     = Comprehensive Coding Program (inpatient, outpatient, and physician’s office coding) - ONLY 

uu  = Comprehensive Coding Program and Physician Coding Program - BOTH

 
Anatomy and Physiology     
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1. Study of the structure and function of the human body systems
2. Course needs to cover all body systems; ( lab not required)

Medical Terminology
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1. Spell, define, and pronounce (through supplemental CD tools), medical terms as well as understanding the concepts of root/suffix/prefix word builds.
2. Common medical terms of major disease processes, diagnostic procedures, laboratory tests, abbreviations, drugs, and treatment modalities. 

Pathophysiology

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1. Specific disease processes
2. By human body system
3. Causes, diagnosis, and treatment of disease

Pharmacotherapy

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1. Emphasis is placed on the understanding of the action of drugs such as: absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of drugs by the body.
2. Drug classifications
3. Most commonly prescribed drugs
4. What is a formulary

Information Technology
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1. Introduction to Computers - Concepts related to hardware and software, the impact of computers on society and computer systems/data communications networks.
2. Computer Software Applications in Healthcare - Overview of commonly available software tools used in health care, including introduction to encoding tools and computer assisted coding software used in health care data processing today.  Introduction to the electronic health record.  (Recommend 45 contact hours)

Introduction to Health Information Management & Healthcare Data Content and Structure
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1. Emphasis is placed on content and components of the  health record including:
2. Content of the health record
3. Documentation requirements
4. Primary vs. secondary records
5. Legal/ethics issues
6. Privacy, confidentiality and computer security
7. HIPAA requirements
8. Release of information
9. Code of Ethics of the AHIMA
10. Standards of Ethical Coding of the AHIMA

Healthcare Delivery Systems & Computer Applications in Healthcare (eHIM)
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1. A thorough understanding of the types and levels of Healthcare Delivery Systems in the U.S., and of the governing bodies that regulate the HIM processes, and understanding the eHIM environment:
2. Organization of healthcare delivery
3. Accreditation standards
4. Licensure/regulatory agencies
5. Identify the issues involving the migration from a paper-based HIM to an electronic HIM
6. The student should be aware of the major acute care environment vendors and their system strengths.
7. Knowledge of different types of encoder systems, and  the effect of natural language processing on the coding process.

Basic Diagnosis Coding Systems

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 Detailed Instruction in:

1. The International Classification of Diseases ICD-9-CM, how to code, and guidelines for usage.
2. Volumes I, II, and III

Basic Procedure Coding Systems

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1. Student will focus on Basic HCPCS coding, with a focus on CPT-4 coding (Anesthesia, E&M, Surgical, Pathology/Laboratory, Radiology and Medicine) and HCPS II codes. 

Intermediate (or Advanced) Diagnosis Coding  

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1. Having attained basic coding skills, this course focuses on  case studies using more complex code assignments to determine the correct diagnoses.  Students should be exposed to  medical records and learn how to interpret actual charts. 
2. Student should be introduced to diagnostic based prospective payment groupers:  DRG, APR-DRG, & RUGS.
3. An introduction to International Classification of Diseases ICD-10-CM, and other  diagnosis coding systems (DSM-IV, ICD-0)
4. Introduction to Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) – Includes a brief overview of its role in the health care delivery system as the basis for an electronic health record.