Starting with the Spring 2012 trimester, students entering the
Associate of Science in Chiropractic Technology (A.S.C.T.) program
on the Davenport Campus follow a curriculum that shifts
two credit hours from their Clinical Science class to the study
of insurance coding and billing. The new curriculum now
includes a first trimester, one-credit concepts course, a second
trimester coding course, and a third trimester billing applications
course.
Introduction to Insurance Concepts will introduce the student
to insurance terminology, cost-sharing and the insurance verification
process. Procedure and Diagnosis Coding for Chiropractic
focuses on teaching students the guidelines for properly utilizing
coding manuals and will emphasize critical thinking skills, as
the student will be able to select the proper code based on the
doctor’s documentation. This class will also familiarize the
student with the many compliance edits to which chiropractic
claims may be subjected. Finally, Insurance Billing Applications
will teach students to pull the terminology and coding procedures
together to perform the billing process in a manner that
results in “clean” and compliant insurance claims.
Students who have taken this curriculum will be prepared to sit
for American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) certification,
if they so choose. The AAPC is the largest coding certification
organization in the U.S., currently with 111,000 members.
They offer a specialty certification in chiropractic; those who
pass the exam and the apprenticeship period would become
Certified Chiropractic Professional Coders (CCPC).
Billing and coding in the healthcare profession is becoming
increasingly complex. One such complexity is the shift from
ICD-9 to ICD-10 diagnosis coding. Providing chiropractic
technologists with enhanced skills in coding and billing is not
only an extremely beneficial piece of their career development,
but is also filling an important need in the chiropractic profession.
Chiropractors need professionals trained to help them
maneuver through the billing process in a way that is compliant
and enables them to properly bill for all services performed.
To learn more, visit www.palmer.edu/asctprogram.