What is the difference between inpatient and outpatient medical coding and billing?
Outpatient coding involves coding the medical charts of patients who are discharged from a healthcare facility within 24 hours. That means for patients those who receive treatments or undergo diagnostic procedures in clinics, doctor offices or hospital emergency rooms on the same-day basis.
Inpatient coding refers to coding the records of patients who are required to stay in a hospital or any other healthcare unit for more than 24 hours. Since the medical records of patients who are admitted to a hospital for treatment tend to be a lot more complex, this naturally makes the job of inpatient medical coders that much harder.
Due to advances in medicine, a lot of treatments that required a hospital stay can now be performed on a same-day basis. Thus, now outpatient coding is a lot more used than inpatient coding.
Another factor to consider when choosing between inpatient and outpatient coding is that employment opportunities may be more for outpatient medical coders as they can find jobs in a variety of healthcare settings that include hospitals, physician offices, diagnostic labs, outpatient care centers, nursing care facilities, etc.
On the other hand, most inpatient coding jobs are limited to large hospitals though inpatient medical coders may also find employment with long-term care facilities or health insurance companies.
• Outpatient Coders perform coding for clinics, physicians offices, and hospital emergency rooms. • Inpatient Coders perform coding in major hospitals. As a general rule, a procedure or healthcare event that requires a hospital admittance and overnight stay is considered an inpatient event. Procedures that are performed on a same day basis where the patient is not admitted to the hospital for an overnight stay are considered outpatient even. Physicians and hospitals are performing more and more of their procedures on an outpatient basis, creating a larger number of positions for outpatient coders and quicker entry into this side of the coding field. The reality is that most coding is outpatient coding. There is a significant difference in the skill set required to apply codes to complex inpatient operative reports versus coding a report for a laceration or a stubbed toe in a clinic or emergency room setting. This skill set difference has placed inpatient coders in high demand, and they
