Although medical coding jobs are thought to be replaced by machines and software for the sake of greater efficiency and lower cost, the jury is still out on the matter.
As the objective of the task is to digest the description provided by physicians into equivalent codes, this is no easy task to hammer out.
The human mind works in strange ways and doctors are no different.
Who can forget the infamous joke about doctor's handwriting? To overcome the challenge of misinterpreting bad handwriting, they are given computers in which to enter clinical information.
Computer fonts are ideally more legible and leave nothing to imagination as compared to scrawls of man.
With the issue of penmanship out of the way, another element worth contemplating is the logical side of this coding business.
In a manner of speaking, medical coding jobs serve as a check and balance to the physicians' data entries.
This is not purported to second guess their ability or quality of work.
However, in the course of attending to the many patients, doctors may make the occasional error.
Since whatever's in the system is normally taken to be the truth and nothing but the truth, coders are tasked with picking up irregularities for further confirmation before making the final entry.
This works to the benefit of all as physicians who rely on these codes are duly compensated and patients are timely reimbursed by insurance firms who honor justified claims.
Since medical coding jobs are more office-based, they are not subject to irregular work hours.
This is certainly a plus point for those who prefer a predictable routine barring the occasional overtime to meet a deadline for submission of statistics to requesting authorities.
It is a given fact that the duties are akin to laboratory technicians as there is a void of physical contact with patients.
Other than just a name and number accompanied by the doctor's handwriting, each patient is viewed as a paper folder of varying thickness.