The Coding Specialist certificate program is outlined below for students initially enrolled during the upcoming academic year.

Program Outline - 32 total units  

FALL Year 1 - 8 Units Units
HLIN 220   Health Information Science and the U.S. Healthcare System 4
HLIN 248   Pathopharmacology 4
WINTER Year 1 - 6 Units Units
HLCS 242   Coding I 4
RELE 257   Christian Ethics in Health Care 2
SPRING Year 2 - 6 Units Units
HLCS 243   Coding II 4
HLCS 961   Coding Practicum I 2
SUMMER Year 2 - 4 Units Units
HLCS 245    Coding III 4
HLCS 961    Coding Practicum I - Continued   
FALL Year 2 - 8 Units Units
HLCS 250   Reimbursement and Coding Compliance 4
HLCS 962   Coding Practicum II 2
HLCS 260   Seminar and Portfolio for Healthcare Professions 2


Practicum Experience 

Direct coding practice with health records will be facilitated throughout the program, in which the student will learn how to assign codes using strictly the codebooks, as well as gain necessary exposure to and familiarity with the encoder system. Two coding practicum courses are built into the curriculum to provide the student the opportunity of coding inpatient and outpatient health records with a variety of common diseases and surgical procedures for a minimum of 120 hours. This practical experience will be coordinated by an experienced instructor who will supervise and evaluate the students’ work, answer questions, and provide corrective feedback to the students. Practicum courses will require students to regularly meet online synchronously with the instructor to better facilitate this process and to ensure students are confident in their medical coding skills.