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Best medical record coder certifications
Medical record coder certifications allow job seekers to demonstrate their competency as an medical record coder to employers. However, not all medical record coder certifications provide the same value for job seekers.
The best certifications for a medical record coder are Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT), Certified Billing and Coding Specialist (CBCS), and Certified Coding Specialist (CCS).
Below is a list of the best medical record coder certifications. Obtaining an medical record coder certification will give you a leg up when you apply for jobs and increase your potential salary.
7 best certifications for medical record coders
| Rank | Medical record coder certification | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) | AHIMA |
| 2 | Certified Billing and Coding Specialist (CBCS) | NHA |
| 3 | Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) | AHIMA |
| 4 | Certified Professional Coder (CPC) | AAPC |
| 5 | Certified Medical Coder (CMC) | PMI |
| 6 | Certified Code Specialist | ACIA |
| 7 | Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) | AHIMA |
7 best medical record coder certifications
1. Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT)
With experience, the RHIT credential holds solid potential for advancement to management positions, especially when combined with a bachelor's degree. Although most RHITs work in hospitals, they are also found in other healthcare settings including office-based physician practices, nursing homes, home health agencies, mental health facilities, and public health agencies. In fact, RHITs may be employed in any organization that uses patient data or health information, such as pharmaceutical companies, law and insurance firms, and health product vendors.
- More than two years of education or training after high school required? Yes
- More than two years of work experience required? No
- Oral or written exam required? Yes
- Renewal required? Every 3 year(s)
2. Certified Billing and Coding Specialist (CBCS)
A Certified Billing and Coding Specialist (CBCS) primarily focuses on converting a medical procedure, diagnosis, or symptom into specific codes to submit a claim for reimbursement.
- More than two years of education or training after high school required? Yes
- More than two years of work experience required? Yes
- Oral or written exam required? Yes
- Renewal required? Every 2 year(s)
3. Certified Coding Specialist (CCS)
Coding accuracy is highly important to healthcare organizations, and has an impact on revenues and describing health outcomes. In fact, certification has become an implicit industry standard. Accordingly, the CCS credential demonstrates a practitioner's tested data quality and integrity skills, and mastery of coding proficiency. Professionals experienced in coding inpatient and outpatient records should consider obtaining this certification.
- More than two years of education or training after high school required? No
- More than two years of work experience required? No
- Oral or written exam required? Yes
- Renewal required? Every 3 year(s)
4. Certified Professional Coder (CPC)
A Certified Professional Coder (CPC) is an individual of high professional integrity who has passed a coding certification examination sponsored by the American Academy of Professional Coders (the AAPC). The examination consists of questions regarding the correct application of CPT, HCPCS procedure and supply codes and ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes used for billing professional medical services to insurance companies.
- More than two years of education or training after high school required? No
- More than two years of work experience required? No
- Oral or written exam required? Yes
- Renewal required? Every 2 year(s)
5. Certified Medical Coder (CMC)
Experienced medical office professionals with exceptional coding skills are eligible to sit for the Certified Medical Coder (CMC) exam. Practice Management Institute has helped raise the bar of knowledge with its CMC credential, designed to help physicians and their staff ensure ample training in outpatient coding.
- More than two years of education or training after high school required? Yes
- More than two years of work experience required? No
- Oral or written exam required? Yes
- Renewal required?
6. Certified Code Specialist
A Certified Code Specialist is an inspector that specializes in code inspection.
- More than two years of education or training after high school required? Yes
- More than two years of work experience required? Yes
- Oral or written exam required? Yes
- Renewal required? Every 1 year(s)
7. Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA)
Job opportunities for RHIAs exist in multiple settings throughout the healthcare industry. These include the continuum of care delivery organizations, including hospitals, multispecialty clinics and physician practices, long-term care, mental health, and other ambulatory care settings. The profession has seen significant expansion in nonpatient care settings, with careers in managed care and insurance companies, software vendors, consulting services, government agencies, education, and pharmaceutical companies.
- More than two years of education or training after high school required? Yes
- More than two years of work experience required? No
- Oral or written exam required? Yes
- Renewal required? Every 1 year(s)
What is the best certification for a medical record coder?
The best medical record coder certification is Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT). The Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) is awarded by the American Health Information Management Association. This certification is great to have as it shows an improvement in your competency to perform your role. You can earn this certification at the beginning of your career, as it often doesn't require a minimum education level and work experience.
Here's a bit more background on how to obtain this medical record coder certification:
- To become a certified Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT), you need to pass the exam.
- Lucky you - certification doesn't require more than two years of work experience.
- Renew certification every 3 year.
What are some of the most in-demand certifications for medical record coders?
The most in-demand medical record coder certification is Registered Health Information Technician based on all active job postings. Having this medical record coder certification will give you access to more medical record coder jobs with higher salaries.
What certifications can impact a medical record coder career and salary?
The Registered Health Information Technician certification will help you to secure a medical coder position, which will increase your pay and career trajectory. A medical coder's average salary is $41,657 whereas medical record coders make an average salary of $54,162.
The most common combination of medical record coder certifications include: Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT), Certified Billing and Coding Specialist (CBCS), and Certified Coding Specialist (CCS).
Online courses for medical record coders to earn certifications
1. Operations and Patient Safety for Healthcare IT Staff
Now that you've been introduced to the world of Health IT and the important role played by electronic health records (EHRs), we'll focus on other technologies that play a role in maintaining ongoing operations in healthcare. Telemedicine, patient portals, barcode scanners, printers, and medical devices are just some of the technologies that impact providers and patients. As an IT support specialist, you’ll be asked to troubleshoot issues with a wide variety of tools. You'll see a scenario with...
2. Health After Cancer: Cancer Survivorship for Primary Care
This course presents basic principles of cancer survivorship to primary-care physicians. Developed by a team of experts in caring for cancer survivors, and narrated by a primary-care physician, this course provides practical tips and tools that can be easily integrated into medical practice. You will learn about the complex physical and psychosocial needs and concerns of the growing number of cancer survivors, along with the key role that primary care physicians have in guiding these patients...
3. Medical Coding: ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code Training
Learn medical coding and prepare yourself for today's healthcare workplace...
4. Medical Coding CPC (Certified Professional Coder) Training
ICD 10, CPT, HCPCS, Rules and Regulations...
5. Medical Emergencies: Airway, Breathing, and Circulation
In this course, you will develop the knowledge and skills to assess and stabilize certain types of patients for transport. By the end of this course, you will be able to: 1) assess a basic medical patient 2) describe general pharmacologic principles and the skills associated with medication administration, 3) explain airway physiology, the assessment of the airway and available interventions for airway management, 4) identify, assess and formulate a plan to stabilize a patient with a...
6. Prehospital care of acute stroke and patient selection for endovascular treatment using the RACE scale
Acute stroke is a time-dependent medical emergency. In acute ischemic stroke, the first objective is to restore brain flow using sistemic thrombolytic treatment and, in patients with large vessel occlusion, by endovascular treatment. In hemorrhagic stroke there are also specific treatments that can improve the clinical outcome. The sooner the initiation of all these therapies the higher the clinical benefit. Thus, the organization of Stroke Code systems coordinated between emergency medical...
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8. AMCI Introduction to Medical Coding (I2MC) Course
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9. Deep learning in Electronic Health Records - CDSS 2
Overview of the main principles of Deep Learning along with common architectures. Formulate the problem for time-series classification and apply it to vital signals such as ECG. Applying this methods in Electronic Health Records is challenging due to the missing values and the heterogeneity in EHR, which include both continuous, ordinal and categorical variables. Subsequently, explore imputation techniques and different encoding strategies to address these issues. Apply these approaches to...
10. A Specialty Approach to Learning Medical Billing and Coding
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12. Medical Terminology
Introduction to the meaning of various roots, terms and combining forms that are components of medical words...
13. Internal audit on Medical Device QMS - ISO 13485:2016
Successfully conduct an internal audit based on requirements of ISO 13485:2016 for Medical Device Development and QMS...
14. Medical Device Regulation 2017/745 EU regulatory affairs.
Understand regulations for medical devices in simple terms to gain market approval of a medical device in the EU...
15. Medical Devices Quality Management System - ISO 13485:2016
Awareness and Application for the requirements of ISO 13485:2016 for Medical Device Development and QMS...
16. Understanding HIPAA for the Medical Office
A healthcare professional's guide to understanding the requirements HIPAA...
17. Understanding Medications and Therapeutics
Helping you build the best foundation to truly understand medications and develop clinical reasoning skills...
18. Introduction to Medical Imaging
Your guide to the history, science, math, and economics of medical imaging systems (e.g., X-ray, CT, MRI, Ultrasound)...
19. Health Data 101
An Introduction to Health Data for data analysts...
20. Practical Regulatory Affairs 2020 - European Medical Devices
A practical course discussing the EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR) in real-world situations...