The Healthcare Coding Certificate program prepares students by providing the entry-level skills necessary for medical records coding in either an inpatient or outpatient setting. The program focuses on industry standards for coding and billing, using International Classifications of Diseases (ICD-10), Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), and third-party reimbursement.

All courses required for this program focus on the skills necessary in the healthcare environment. This means no additional general education courses are required to successfully complete this certificate.

In addition, these courses are applicable to other certificates (ex: Billing Certificate) offered at Chemeketa.

Successful completion of the program will prepare students to take the CPC exam offered by American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC).

Program Outcomes

Students completing this certificate should be able to satisfy the following outcomes:

1. Be able to code symptoms, diagnosis, operations, procedures according to the classification systems.
2. Use health records to abstract, collect, and analyze data for use by a range of health care professions and health-related organizations.
3. Use knowledge of structure, function, and terminology related to the human body to communicate in health care systems.
4. Apply the principles of professional ethics and diversity to medical-legal matters, including confidentiality, medical records management, release of information, patient rights, workplace rights, informed consents, and electronic information in the health care facility.
5. Use interpersonal and communication skills that build and maintain cooperative working relationships in the health care profession.
6. Use the specific skills associated with their scope of practice such as medical coding, medical reimbursement, and health records management.
7. Integrate and apply theory and skill in a health care organization through a work site experience.
8. Exemplify Professional Behavior.
9. Be prepared to sit for the AAPC CPC certification exam.

You may earn a certificate by successfully completing the required 41 credit hours.