Health Sciences

Medical Record Coder Certificate

Midlands Technical College offers medical record coder training via live broadcast of lectures and laboratory instruction to rural areas of South Carolina as well as locally on the Airport Campus.  Live clinical experience will be in the student's home community.

The medical coder is a health information specialist trained to assign diagnostic and procedural codes, applying both ICD-9-CM and CPT-4 classification systems for optimal reimbursement in a variety of health care settings.  The medical record coder will establish a familiarity with other coding and classification systems utilized in nontraditional health care settings as well as reimbursement-related issues and skills including DRG assignment/validation, federal reimbursement systems, operations of third party payers and billing departments.

The general education component of this certificate program will allow the student to develop a background in human anatomy and physiology, medical terminology, and computer skills and will be obtainable at the students "home" technical college.

The professional education component will consist of an introduction to the field of health information management, in-depth instruction on medical record coding, focus on medical pathology and interpretation of medical documentation.  Hands-on coding practice will be achieved not only in lab settings, but also in hospital and other health care facility medical record departments supervised by health information management professionals.  The technical courses, exclusive of clinical rotations, will be provided by Midlands Technical College.

The Medical Record Coder certificate will be awarded from Midlands Technical College in Columbia, SC.  Successful students will be encouraged to sit for the national coding examination, after gaining additional experience, so as to receive credentials as Certified Coding Associate (CCA).  This examination is offered by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).  Students must complete all HIM and science courses with a "C" or better and may repeat no more than two technology courses.

Special Requirements

In addition to the college's placement test and the admissions requirements of the Health Sciences department, specific admission criteria to the Medical Record Coder program include:

• High school diploma or equivalent

• Acceptable admission criteria:

  • HOBET 46 composite percent (minimum reading 46 percent) and MTC writing sample score of 30; or

  • SAT 840 (minimum verbal 400) and MTC writing sample score of 30; or

  • ACT 18 (minimum verbal 17) and MTC writing sample score of 30; or

  • Successful completion of the Pre-Health Care certificate with a 2.5 GPA and "C" or higher in each course.

• High school or college credits in science (recommended)

• Typing skills

• Current CPR certification at time of program entry

Distance learners who are concurrently enrolled at one of the other technical colleges must be academically ready to take the first curriculum course in the Medical Record Coder program.

Course must be taken in the appropriate sequence as specified in the curriculum display.

Students will be expected to join their professional organization, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), as they begin their first semester.