clinical-coder/references/skills.md

Competences — clinical coder

Source: ESCO v1.2.1 occupation-skill relations (http://data.europa.eu/esco/occupation/6219f0ef-6414-4d01-9221-41ac25dcb409).

Essential

• adhere to organisational guidelines (skill/competence)
• clinical coding (knowledge)
• communicate in healthcare (skill/competence)
• document management (knowledge)
• follow clinical guidelines (skill/competence)
• maintain healthcare user data confidentiality (skill/competence)
• manage healthcare users' data (skill/competence)
• medical terminology (knowledge)
• perform clinical coding procedures (skill/competence)
• professional documentation in health care (knowledge)
• review patient's medical data (skill/competence)
• use electronic health records management system (skill/competence)

Optional

• archive healthcare users' records (skill/competence)
• collect healthcare user's general data (skill/competence)
• collect statistics on medical records (skill/competence)
• health care system (knowledge)
• health records management (knowledge)
• healthcare analytics (knowledge)
• human anatomy (knowledge)
• human physiology (knowledge)
• identify patients' medical records (skill/competence)
• manage digital documents (skill/competence)
• medical informatics (knowledge)

Market evidence (job-ad analysis, 9 ads, as of 2026-07-10)

Share of analyzed job ads mentioning the item (threshold ≥ 20 %). Source: JSearch/Adzuna APIs.

Hard skills

• medical coding — 33 %
• coding compliance — 22 %
• billing compliance — 22 %
• medical terminology — 22 %
• mentoring — 11 %
• pathophysiology — 11 %
• pathophysiology knowledge — 11 %
• pharmacology — 11 %
• pharmacology knowledge — 11 %
• medical record review — 11 %
• physiology — 11 %
• policy interpretation — 11 %
• procedure coding — 11 %
• quality assurance — 11 %
• record abstraction — 11 %
• revenue cycle improvement — 11 %
• risk adjustment — 11 %
• team supervision — 11 %
• training — 11 %
• audit support — 11 %
• billing regulations — 11 %
• analytical skills — 11 %
• anatomy — 11 %
• charge capture — 11 %
• claim edits — 11 %
• claim issue resolution — 11 %
• client engagement management — 11 %
• clinical coding — 11 %
• clinical documentation improvement — 11 %
• clinical documentation interpretation — 11 %
• coding — 11 %
• coding audit — 11 %
• coding query composition — 11 %
• compliance — 11 %
• cpt-4 procedure coding — 11 %
• data abstraction — 11 %
• data analysis — 11 %
• data validation — 11 %
• diagnosis coding — 11 %
• disease process knowledge — 11 %
• medical record abstraction — 11 %
• medical record analysis — 11 %
• medical record coding — 11 %
• medical billing — 11 %
• drg assignment — 11 %
• icd-10 coding — 11 %
• icd-10 diagnosis coding — 11 %

Methods

• ICD-10-CM/PCS coding — 11 %
• lean six sigma — 11 %
• ahima standards — 11 %
• coding compliance guidelines — 11 %
• coding audits — 11 %
• APR-DRG — 11 %
• APR-DRG assignment — 11 %
• SOI/ROM assignment — 11 %
• revenue cycle management — 11 %
• regulatory compliance — 11 %
• quality assurance — 11 %
• process improvement — 11 %
• PPC/MHAC coding — 11 %
• POA assignment — 11 %
• nlp-based coding review — 11 %

Responsibilities

• documentation review — 33 %
• code assignment — 22 %
• code correction — 11 %
• code validation — 11 %
• coder supervision — 11 %
• coder training — 11 %
• coding advice provision — 11 %
• coding and billing charge processing — 11 %
• clinical documentation interpretation — 11 %
• client engagement management — 11 %
• audit collaboration — 11 %
• account coding — 11 %
• billing support — 11 %
• billing workflow support — 11 %
• case review — 11 %
• billing change procedure development — 11 %
• billing issue communication — 11 %
• edit discrepancy consultation — 11 %
• leadership briefing — 11 %
• medical record coding — 11 %
• coding guidance provision — 11 %
• coding guideline adherence — 11 %
• compliance review support — 11 %
• communication with departments — 11 %
• communication with staff — 11 %
• documentation clarification — 11 %
• discrepancy resolution — 11 %
• diagnosis application — 11 %
• policy document authoring — 11 %
• modifier application — 11 %
• practice improvement — 11 %
• provider education — 11 %
• physician query completion — 11 %
• physician query support — 11 %
• quality monitoring — 11 %
• record abstraction — 11 %
• reimbursement validation — 11 %
• staff training participation — 11 %
• task prioritization — 11 %
• training on coding changes — 11 %
• work prioritization — 11 %