Inpatient Medical Coding Certificate (AMCO)

Inpatient Medical Coding is a completely ONLINE certificate program.

The Inpatient Medical Coding Certificate program is designed to prepare Health Information Professionals by focusing on procedural and diagnostic coding for reimbursement of professional services performed in inpatient facility settings. The program includes medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, inpatient procedural coding (ICD-10-PCS) and diagnostic coding (ICD-10-CM) as well as medical regulations. Upon successful completion of the Inpatient Medical Coding Certificate program, the student is eligible to take the certification examinations administered by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) or the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC). In order to complete the AMCO program students who have successfully completed the MRCO program need only take HIM 225  and HIM 250 . The AMCO program is presented 100% online and is supported with a wide variety of methods and opportunities for direct contact with the program manager and instructors.

Admission Requirements

• Meet the general admission requirements and graduation requirements for all Health Sciences students listed at the beginning of the Health Sciences program section of this catalog.
• Students must be graduates of an accredited high school or possess a General Education Development (GED) certificate.
• The Central Carolina Technical College registrar must have receipt of all official transcripts (including high school and all regionally accredited institutions for desired course transfer).
• Meet computer competency required for placement into online courses.
• Qualified applicants must have all developmental and prerequisite courses prior to acceptance into the Inpatient Medical Coding program.
• The Inpatient Medical Coding Program has limited enrollment and students are admitted annually in the fall semester.
• Qualify for acceptance by either successful completion of the MRCO program or previous employment as a medical coder within the last two years.
• Students’ acceptance into the program is contingent upon completion and submission of the AMCO application form to the Program Manager. Applications will be processed in the order in which they are submitted.
• Applications will be accepted into the AMCO program until all seats are filled.
• No student may apply to more than one Health Sciences program at a time.

Progression Standards-After Program Entry

Failure to meet progression standards results in suspension from the program.

• After admission, students must maintain a minimum 2.0 program GPA on program curriculum courses at Central Carolina Technical College in order to progress.
• Must earn a minimum of “C” or higher in each required curriculum course for the program. Students may retake courses completed with less than a “C” one time only.
• Must successfully complete all components of a course (theory, practicum) in order to pass the course. Students who fail to complete a component will receive a grade of “F” for the course regardless of the time in the semester and are not eligible to receive a “W” through the withdrawal process.
• Students are limited to two attempts at successful completion of any medical coding program (including Central Carolina Technical College). A “D”, “W”, “WA”, or “WF” constitutes an attempt at the AMCO program and will count as one attempt to complete the program
• Students must complete all course requirements within two years from the start date of the AMCO program.

Developmental Courses

This program of study requires that all developmental courses be completed prior to graduation. These developmental courses may or may not be prerequisites to courses required in the program. Developmental courses are determined by placement tests taken at the time of admission into the College. The developmental courses are MAT 013  and RWR 032 . These courses do not count for credit in any program of study.

Following is a list of courses required to complete this program. Courses should be taken in the following sequence in order to complete the program in a timely manner: