Medical abstractors are professionals who review coded medical reports and then create summaries of them. They aim to assist health insurance companies in determining which patient claims to focus on based on whether the procedures mentioned in the claims are covered the companies. These individuals must be meticulous and have excellent computer skills. Furthermore, they must be familiar with the rules governing the confidentiality of patient medical information. To create the most job opportunities for himself or herself, a person who wants to become a medical abstractor must complete at least two years of college.
A person who wants to work as a medical abstractor should get a two-year associate’s degree in a field like medical coding. Potential students must fill out an enrollment application and show proof of a high school diploma or equivalent certification. If you want to be a medical abstractor, you must also submit a high school transcript and standardized test scores as part of the admissions process.
A health informatics training program will teach you the fundamentals of this branch of the healthcare industry. If you want to work as a medical abstractor, you should learn medical terminology. You’ll need to be able to understand health-related terms that appear on medical reports. Furthermore, classes cover health information technology procedures for collecting and maintaining patient records, particularly electronically, which is an important aspect of a medical abstractor’s job.
Courses on the human body and coding techniques will also prepare you for a career in the healthcare abstracting field. For example, you must study anatomy and physiology to gain a better understanding of the various parts of the body and how they function, as well as why certain medical procedures are necessary in certain situations. Additionally, you should practice identifying codes that correspond to various medical conditions and entering them into medical databases for the sake of organization.
To increase your employment opportunities, you must complete an internship and seek industry certification during your medical coding training program. An internship allows you to gain hands-on experience reviewing patients’ medical records and assigning medical codes to their procedures. You should also check to see how much a patient’s insurance will cover for various coded procedures. If you want to work as a medical abstractor, you can also seek certification through industry associations.