What Is Medical Coding Boot Camp?

by  Find-A-Code™
May 18th, 2023

You are looking to become a certified medical coder or biller. In order to get certification though, you must pass an exam offered by an accrediting organization. Passing the exam will not be easy without undergoing some training first. Enter the medical coding boot camp.

Boot camp operators claim they can get you trained and ready for your certification exam within a very short window. The fastest courses claim to be able to do it in a matter of days. Don't kid yourself. It takes a special kind of person to study all the course materials and be ready for an exam in three days. Some people really can do it. But most of us need a little more time.

Intense Training in Little Time

The entire boot camp concept is based on preparing military neophytes for combat. Recruits are put through an intense training program designed to pack as much information into their brains as is possible in 30-90 days. What isn't learned in boot camp is learned in combat.

Medical coding boot camp is based on the same principle. New coders need to possess a certain body of knowledge in order to get their certifications. Once certified, they can get jobs through which they can learn everything they did not learn in their training programs. Whether or not this is a good approach is irrelevant at this point. Boot camps operate all over the country. Their graduates are getting certified and going on to get good jobs.

A Lot to Learn

It goes without saying that there is a lot to learn before a person can earn a medical coder certification. A typical boot camp course covers:

• CPT codes and guidelines
• ICD-10-CM codes and guidelines
• HCPCS codes and guidelines
• Regulatory compliance
• Medical terminology
• Basic anatomy and physiology
• Payment methods and technologies

It is a lot of information to learn in just three or four days. If you can do it, you can put yourself on the fast track to certification and employment. Just be aware that a crash course designed to be completed in just a few days is based on the principle of memorization and regurgitation. Within just a few days of taking your exam, you will probably have forgotten a lot of information.

Just One Way to Do It

Utilizing a medical coding boot camp is one way to gain the knowledge you need to take a certification exam. There are other ways to go about it. Community colleges and private training companies offer their own training programs that move at a much slower pace. You get a more thorough training experience that hopefully results in better retention.

You should also note that it might not be necessary to get your certification prior to landing a job. There are entry level medical coding and billing positions that would allow you to get your foot in the door. Even as you are working, you are combining on-the-job training with formal learning in preparation for your certification exam.

Even with the second and third options, there is still a lot to learn. Medical coding involves multiple code sets and tens of thousands of codes. Not only do you have to be familiar with the most utilized codes, but you also need to know how to look up the codes you haven't memorized.

If you are looking to get certified as quickly as possible, a medical coding boot camp might be your best bat. You'll get a ton of intense training packed into a short window of time. If you manage to pull it off, you'll get certified pretty quickly.