The U.S. Health Care System is one of the most competent and advanced health care systems in the world. The American health care system is based on health insurance that may well be private or government plans such as Medicare and Medicaid. However, when the insurance claim from payments for services rendered is presented, the different healthcare providers (hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centers, medical offices, etc.) must fill out a form that shows the diagnoses that justifies the medical necessity of the different procedures to be carried out and in the end to be paid by those providers. Just like medical procedures are coded, diagnoses must be coded using the ICD-9-CM codes for the first and CPT-4 for the second.ICD-9-CM codes belong to the International Classification of Diseases, established by the World Health Organization (WHO) with an adaptation (Clinical Modifications) by the American health care system in accordance with the American Medical Association (AMA). This coding system was first used in the world, when they created the first version (ICD-1) in the early twentieth century, since then, periodic changes or revisions have been added that ultimately led to the ICD-9 which has been in place since the eighties, and will soon be replaced by ICD-10 in October of 2014.
Similarly CPT-4 codes to level I belong in the Health Care Common Procedural Coding System (HCPCS), which are used to encode different medical procedures either for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. This system is purely American and has been revised periodically by the AMA, and it will remain the coding system once the procedures change from ICD-9 to ICD-10-CM, as it fully meets the U.S. Health Care System’s requirements for financial transactions. This means that in October of 2013 the health care system of the United States will undergo a substantial change in adopting a new coding system for diseases, much more accurately and efficiently, which has been in use by most developed countries of the world, since the beginning of the XXI century.
As expected this change requires advance preparation of professionals in the field of information and health insurance, and for such purposes Florida National University (FNU) has been one of the pioneer centers offering training courses in ICD-10-CM / PCS to its students for the Fall of 2010.
For more than 5 years, FNU has been offering a diploma in Medical Coding and Billing (as well as a quick training seminar on the same theme), which historically provided newly arrived immigrants the skills needed to enter the job market. The FNU Training Center has an excellent reputation of producing graduates who have passed the certification exam for Professional Coders (CPC) of the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC). Similarly, we are confident that our graduates in these disciplines will successfully pass the certification exams for ICD-10 that will be implemented as a requirement for all professionals in the field starting in October of next year.
