Introduction to Health Care & Careers Chapter 24 Answers to Checkpoint and Review Questions Checkpoints 1. What personal characteristics should a health information technician have? Health information technicians should be detail-oriented and accurate. They should also have good organizational and communication skills. 2. What education and training are needed to become a health information coder? Most coders learn their skills on the job. A few schools offer associate s degree programs in coding, but these programs are not accredited. Coding is included in an accredited health information technician associate s degree program. Certificate programs are also available. 3. What are the typical work responsibilities of medical transcriptionists? Medical transcriptionists listen to dictated recordings made by health care professionals and interpret and transcribe them into medical reports and other documents. After typing documents, transcriptionists proofread, edit, and format them. Review Questions Matching Match the resource with its use.
_ c 1. CAC software _ e 2. Speech recognition a. Coding injuries, illnesses, or conditions b. Coding treatments, tests, and services software _ a 3. ICD-9-CM _ d 4. Medical dictionary _ b 5. CPT-4 c. Suggesting codes d. Proofreading dictation e. Transcribing dictation Multiple Choice 6. For which occupation is a background in anatomy, physiology, and medical terminology needed? 7. Which occupation requires proofreading and editing skills? 8. Which occupation requires good listening skills?
9. Which occupation checks patient documents for completeness? 10. Which occupation will see a significant change in 2013 when a new rule goes into effect? Completion 11. Health information technicians can specialize in two areas: coding and cancer registry. 12. Mortality means the incidence of death in a population. 13. Morbidity is the incidence of disease in a population. 14. Health information coders work with two types of codes: diagnostic codes and procedure codes. 15. The World Health Organization (WHO) approves all changes to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
Short Answer 16. Compare and contrast the typical education requirements for the occupations described in this chapter. Most entry-level health information technicians have an associate s degree. Most coders learn their skills on the job. Although medical transcriptionists don t always need formal education, employers prefer to hire candidates with postsecondary training in medical transcription. Two-year associate s degree and one-year certificate programs are available. 17. Why do health information coders need continuing education? Health information coders need continuing education because the codes they use are updated each year. 18. How has the trend toward outsourcing medical transcription to foreign countries affected the employment of medical transcriptionists? What effect may this trend have in the future? The trend of outsourcing transcription has generated jobs for medical transcriptionists, and the BLS projects that it will continue to do so in the future. Organizations will hire medical transcriptionists to proofread and edit the reports produced by overseas companies. 19. What are the typical work responsibilities of health information technicians? Health information technicians gather patient health care documents and check them for completeness. They contact health care providers for any missing documents or information. They also check that the appropriate information has been entered in the computer. For a new patient, a health information technician
sets up a chart and organizes the contents so that information can be found quickly. For a returning patient, the technician puts new documents in the proper place in the file and places the file in the appropriate location so that it can be retrieved when needed. In carrying out these responsibilities, the health care technician follows the rules and procedures of the health care facility to ensure that records are consistent. 20. What are the primary uses of medical coding? Medical codes are used by insurance companies to determine whether, and how much, to pay for services. They re also used by government agencies and the World Health Organization to gather health data, including data about common diseases, causes of death, and epidemic diseases. Accurate coding is essential to ensure that medical conditions are reported properly and that health care providers are properly compensated for their services.