WVU Physicians of Charleston’s Shante’ Wright Becomes Certified Coding Specialist

Shante’ Wright, a coder for the WVU Physicians of Charleston Internal Medicine Office has successfully passed her exam to become a Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) through the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).

Certified Coding Specialist is a facility certification, similar to the CPC certification, but designated for facilities.

Certified coding specialists are skilled in classifying medical data from patient records, generally in a hospital setting. These coding practitioners review patients’ records and assign numeric codes for each diagnosis and procedure. Different facilities and institutions make use of a CCSs' skills in many ways. Hospitals and medical providers take the coded data created by CCSs to insurance companies—or to the government in the case of Medicare and Medicaid recipients—for reimbursement of expenses, and researchers and public health officials also use this data to monitor patterns and explore new interventions.

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is the premier association of health information management (HIM) professionals worldwide. Serving 52 affiliated component state associations and more than 103,000 health information professionals, it is recognized as the leading source of "HIM knowledge," a respected authority for rigorous professional education and training.

Congratulations to Shante’ on this important career milestone.