I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Medical Office Procedures

2. Course Prefix & Number:
HINS 1163

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 2

Lecture Hours: 2

4. Course Description:

This course covers specific administrative responsibilities in the medical practice. The course covers office communication, scheduling, basics of managing health information, basics of insurance and patient billing. The course uses simulations to expose students to a clinic scenario to include patient interaction, third-party payer interaction, and provider interaction.

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):

No placement tests required

Score:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

There are no prerequisites for this course.

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:

Ridgewater College, ADS 1320 Medical Office Management, 3 credits
Southeast Technical College, MEDS 1212 Medical Office Procedures, 4 credits

2. Transfer - regional institutions with which this course has a written articulation agreement:

MSU - Moorhead, Articulation agreement signed Spring 2019 (MSU-M Electives)

III. Course Purpose

1. Program-Applicable Courses – This course is required for the following program(s):

Healthcare Administrative Specialist, AAS Degree
Healthcare Accounting, AAS Degree
Healthcare Administrative Specialist, Diploma
Healthcare Administrative Specialist, Certificate 

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Demonstrate interpersonal communication skills	Demonstrate good interpersonal communication to relationships with patients and others within the medical practice.
Analyze and follow a sequence of operations	Identify the steps in the revenue cycle and explain how each medical office position affects the practice finances.
Apply ethical principles in decision-making	Explain how proper screening and triage of patients during a phone conversation can assist the medical office and patient.

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Describe the tasks and skills required of the healthcare administrative specialist;
• Identify three ways the healthcare administrative specialist helps to ensure the financial success of the physician practice;
• Explain the purpose of a medical compliance plan and how the medical office staff can use it to safeguard against litigation;
• Demonstrate how effective writing communication techniques can be used in medical office correspondence;
• Compare the different types of scheduling options to determine which types of practices could benefit from the options;
• Explain the reasons for maintaining a medical record and the documents included in a medical record; and
• Explain the terminology related to scheduling, medical insurance and medical coding.

 

 

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. The Administrative Medical Assistant career
• Administrative Medical Assistant - personal attributes
• Employment opportunities
• Work ethic and professionalism
• Professional growth
• Certifications
• Industry organizations
• Interpersonal relationships
2. Medical ethics, law, and compliance
• Ethics
• Law
• HIPAA/HITECH and ARRA
• Compliance plans
• Safeguards against litigation
3. Office communications
• Communication cycle
• Nonverbal communication
• Written communication
• Telephone skills
• Scheduling
• Pre-registration
4. Managing health information
• Computer usage
• Introduction to the medical record
• Documentation formats
• Ownership, quality assurance, and records retention
• Filing systems
• Introduction to electronic health records
• Use of technology in physician practice
• Functions of electronic health record programs
• Advantages of electronic health records
• The HITECH Act’s impact on privacy and security
5. Insurance and coding
• Insurance terminology
• Insurance plans
• Government
• Third-party payers
• Workers' compensation, auto and liability 
• Participation and payment method
• Introduction to procedural and diagnostic coding and compliance
6. Billing, reimbursement, and collections
• Charge entry/recording transactions
• Insurance claims
• Payments from patients
• Payments from payers
• Delinquent accounts
• Medical billing cycle
• Preregister patients
• Establishing financial responsibility
• Check-in process
• Check-out process
• Review coding compliance
• Review billing compliance
• Prepare and transmit claims
• Monitor payor adjudication
• Generate patient statements
• Follow up on patient payments/collections
7. Practice finance
• Essential financial records
• Identifying theft and red flag requirements
• Reports Day sheets and patient lists
• Billing/payment status report
• Practice analysis
• Unapplied payment/adjustment report

 

2. Laboratory/Studio Sessions