A new session of each course opens each month, allowing you to enroll whenever your busy schedule permits!
How does it work? Once a session starts, two lessons will be released each week, for the six-week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends.
Keep in mind that the interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes 2 weeks after each lesson is released, so you’re encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
The Final Exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the Final Exam has been released, you will have 2 weeks plus 10 days to complete the Final and finish any remaining lessons in your course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.
Week One
Lesson 01 - Medical Coding Basics
Wednesday
The first lesson explores the history of medical insurance and medical coding. After that, take a few minutes to get familiar with the coding books and tools that medical coders use. This lesson finishes up with an important discussion about patient privacy and confidentiality.
Lesson 02 - Coding in the Real World
Friday
In this lesson, you'll take a close look at how medical professionals use medical codes in the real world. Get to know the common form medical coders use and explore the different types of medical codes you will find in your coding books. By the time you finish the lesson, you will understand how the different types of codes come together on a claim and how they tell the insurance company a complete story about any doctor-patient encounter.
Week Two
Lesson 03 - Getting to Know Your CPT Manual
Wednesday
In this lesson, take a detailed tour through the CPT manual where you will find medical codes for the procedures and treatments doctors and other medical professionals provide their patients. You will learn all about the CPT symbols, modifiers, and unlisted procedures. By the end of this lesson, you will be looking up your first codes!
Lesson 04 - Getting to Know Your ICD-10-CM
Friday
Similar to the last lesson, you will take a detailed tour through the other coding book used in this course, the ICD-10-CM, which is where you will find the codes for any disease, illness, condition, or symptom that a patient may have. You will learn all about the ICD-10-CM's symbols, formatting, and other conventions; and you will learn where to find external cause codes and Z-codes. By the end of this lesson, you will begin to practice coding diagnoses.
Week Three
Lesson 05 - Coding the Integumentary System
Wednesday
Starting with this lesson, you'll begin a series of lessons that take you in depth into one body system at a time, which will help you understand specific medical coding situations for each area of the human body. This lesson explores the integumentary (skin) system. You will review the code categories for the most common skin conditions, infections, injuries, and procedures, and then practice coding cases that involve common skin problems.
Lesson 06 - Coding the Musculoskeletal System
Friday
In this lesson, you will learn all about the musculoskeletal system and study some important musculoskeletal vocabulary. Review the code categories for the most common muscle and bone conditions and injuries and learn how to code the procedures doctors use to treat common problems.
Week Four
Lesson 07 - Coding the Respiratory System
Wednesday
This lesson focuses on the respiratory system, and how to code the most common respiratory conditions and injuries. After that, you will practice coding the most common respiratory procedures that doctors use on their patients.
Lesson 08 - Coding the Cardiovascular System
Friday
In this lesson, you'll explore the cardiovascular system. You'll learn how to code common heart, vein, and artery conditions and diseases and how to code the procedures doctors use most often to treat these common diagnoses. As always, this lesson follows up on cardiovascular diseases and procedures with coding practice.
Week Five
Lesson 09 - Coding the Digestive and Endocrine Systems
Wednesday
In this lesson, you will learn all about the digestive system and the endocrine system. Begin by studying some important vocabulary for both systems, and then review the code categories for the most common conditions, diseases, and injuries. After that, explore the procedures doctors perform to fix digestive and endocrine system problems.
Lesson 10 - Coding the Male and Female Genitourinary Systems
Friday
In the last of your system-specific lessons, you will review the male and female genitourinary systems; and learn how to code common conditions, diseases, and procedures for both systems. You will also spend time discussing maternity and childbirth and the special medical coding challenges you will need to consider in those cases.
Week Six
Lesson 11 - Evaluation and Management (E/M) Codes
Wednesday
Ready to get to know Evaluation and Management codes? In this lesson, you will learn the three key components of any E/M service and discover some helpful charts you can use to narrow down an E/M code range to a final E/M code. And as you probably guessed, this lesson ends with plenty of E/M coding practice!
Lesson 12 - Surgical Packages and Modifiers
Friday
In the final lesson, you will find out what's included in a surgical package and what's not. You will also learn all about modifiers and find out why medical coders use them to let insurance companies know about special circumstances. Finally, you will put everything you've learned throughout the course together by coding some practice scenarios that incorporate all of the different types of codes!