Office Technology

General Office, Associate Degree or Certificate of Achievement

This program provides training in common skills used in the business office: keyboarding, computer applications, English, accounting, and business communications. General office workers obtain employment in many environments: corporate settings, government facilities, schools, and hospitals. Related job titles include administrative assistant, executive assistant, executive secretary, office assistant, and secretary. After gaining some work experience or specialized skills, many workers transfer to jobs with higher pay or greater advancement potential.

Program Learning Outcomes: Using skills in Microsoft Office software, keyboarding, and English language principles, the student will create and revise commonly used business documents. Given transaction data, the student will perform basic bookkeeping/accounting tasks, such as classifying, recording, and preparing financial documents.

Additional general education and graduation requirements for the Associate degree from Santa Monica College are listed in the Academics section of this catalog, as well as online (go to smc.edu/articulation).

Legal Administrative Assistant, Associate Degree or Certificate of Achievement

Legal administrative assistants perform the administrative tasks in a law office, such as answering the telephone, managing files, preparing law office correspondence and legal documents, and maintaining the calendar. Legal administrative assistants are in great demand. Qualified legal administrative assistants who have strong skills can find lucrative opportunities with law firms and corporate legal departments, government agencies, and a variety of business and industries — such as banks, insurance companies, investment firms, and real estate companies. This program prepares students to pursue employment as a legal administrative assistant. Training is provided in legal terminology, law office procedures, legal research, computer technology, machine transcription and document preparation, keyboarding, and written and verbal communications.

Program Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of the program, using transcription equipment, word processing software, and legal terminology skills, students will prepare legal documents that represent correct format, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and number usage. Applying knowledge of law office procedures, students will demonstrate skills in workplace telecommunications, office and court calendaring, billing procedures, and filing systems.

Legal Office Clerk, Certificate of Achievement

Legal office clerks perform basic support tasks in a law office. This entry level position includes responsibilities such as producing correspondence, performing receptionist duties, answering telephones, filing, and managing calendars. The Legal Office Clerk Certificate provides training in computer technology, legal office procedures, legal terminology, machine transcription, English skills, and keyboarding. With experience, legal office clerks may advance to administrative assistants and office managers.

Program Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of the program, students will demonstrate knowledge of legal terminology, English skills, computer technology, machine transcription, and keyboarding. Students will prepare legal documents. Applying knowledge of legal office procedures, students will demonstrate skills in court calendaring, billing procedures, and filing systems.

Medical Administrative Assistant, Associate Degree or Certificate of Achievement

This program prepares students for employment in a medical environment. Students develop skills and knowledge to perform a variety of duties to aid in the efficient workflow and operations of a medical related facility. Coursework indicates medical terminology, computer technology, medical law and ethics, and “front office” tasks — such as patient scheduling, reception, coding and billing, transcription, and records management.

Program Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of the program, using knowledge of front office tasks, students will use appropriate procedures related to reception, telephone communications, and records management. Applying computer technology skills, medical terminology skills, and language skills, students will prepare correspondence, produce medical transcripts, and perform tasks related to patient coding and billing.

Medical Coding and Billing Specialist, Associate Degree or Certificate of Achievement

Medical Coding and Billing Specialists are primarily responsible for submitting documentation of patient medical care to insurance companies. Duties include billing insurance companies and patients; collecting payment for services; and documenting tests, treatments, and procedures, using correct medical terminology — referred to as “coding.” This program provides the training that is required to perform these duties.

Program Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of this program, applying knowledge of diagnostic and procedural codes, students will review patients’ medical records and assign appropriate codes for reimbursement and billing purposes. Using a computerized patient billing system, students will enter patient and case information, process transactions and claims, create statements, and produce reports.

Medical Office Clerk, Certificate of Achievement

The Medical Office Clerk Certificate prepares students to perform common tasks in a medical workplace. Students develop skills in medical terminology, medical office procedures, and basic medical coding and billing principles.

Program Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of the program, students will demonstrate knowledge of medical office procedures, HIPAA, patient admissions and discharges, and appropriate telephone and scheduling procedures. Using knowledge of medical terminology and coding/billing procedures, students will demonstrate an understanding of billing, reimbursement, and collection procedures.

Clerical/Data Entry, Department Certificate

Organizations need to process a rapidly growing amount of information. Data entry workers help ensure the efficient handling of information processing. Duties include inputting data into computers and performing editing, proofreading, and clerical tasks. This certificate program provides training in the essential skills to carry out these tasks. Job opportunities exist in part-time, full-time, and work-at-home positions. Data entry workers are known by various job titles, such as data entry clerk, data entry operator, data entry specialist, and clerk. Data entry jobs frequently serve as stepping stones to higher paying positions with increased responsibilities.

Program Learning Outcomes: Using source materials, the student will use Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint software to input data. Applying knowledge of grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, and spelling principles, the student will proofread and correct data input.

Electronic Medical Records Clerk, Department Certificate

This program prepares students for entry-level clerical positions involving electronic health records (EHR). Training is provided in computer basics, medical terminology, and electronic records technology. EHR clerks work in hospitals, physicians’ offices, and nursing homes — typically under the direction of a manager or supervisor.

Program Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of the program, students will be able to capture and store patient data into an EHR (Electronic Health Records) system. Using EHR software, students will document patient encounters and process physician orders in an electronic system.

Hospital Inpatient Coder, Department Certificate

Coding is the transformation of healthcare diagnoses, procedures, medical services, and equipment into universal medical alphanumeric codes for statistical reporting and reimbursement purposes. A hospital inpatient coder reviews and codes information for patients who stay at least overnight in a hospital facility. This certificate program provides training in medical terminology, inpatient coding, and billing, reimbursement, and collection procedures.

Program Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of the program, students will demonstrate knowledge of medical terminology and correctly code inpatient facility services and diagnoses. Using knowledge of billing principles, students will demonstrate an understanding of billing, reimbursement, and collection procedures.

Medical Billing/Coding, Department Certificate

Medical billing/coding workers are primarily responsible for submitting documentation of patient medical care to insurance companies. Duties include billing insurance companies and patients; collecting payment for services; and documenting tests, treatments and procedures, using correct medical terminology – referred to as “coding”. The Medical Billing/Coding Certificate program provides the training that is required to perform these duties.

Program Learning Outcomes: Applying knowledge of diagnostic and procedural codes, the student will review patients’ medical records and assign appropriate codes for reimbursement and billing purposes. Using a computerized patient billing system, the student will enter patient and case information, process transactions and claims, create statements, and produce reports.

Medical Records Clerk/Receptionist, Department Certificate

This program is ideal for students who want to learn the basic skills needed to become employed in a healthcare setting. This certificate prepares students for entry-level records management/receptionist positions in hospitals, nursing homes, physician offices, and service agencies. Coursework includes training in storing, retrieving, and maintaining medical records; front desk procedures; medical vocabulary; computer technology; keyboarding; and written and verbal communications. With experience and additional education, medical records clerk/receptionists may advance to senior clerks, registered health information technicians (RHITs), registered health information administrators (RHIAs), consultants, and educators.

Program Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of this program, using knowledge of recordkeeping systems, students will organize and retrieve patient records using alphabetic, numeric, and color-coded systems. Applying knowledge of front desk procedures, students will demonstrate knowledge of appropriate telephone skills and face-to-face communications.

Medical Transcription, Department Certificate

This program prepares students to listen to dictated recordings made by physicians and other healthcare professionals and transcribe them into medical reports, correspondences, and other administrative material. Medical transcription is a particularly flexible career that easily lends itself to many different work styles. Medical transcriptionists work in hospitals, physicians’ offices, transcription service offices, clinics, laboratories, and at home. With experience, medical transcriptionists can advance to supervisory positions, home-based work, editing, or consulting.

Program Learning Outcomes: Using transcription equipment and word processing software, the student will prepare medical documents that represent correct format, spelling, capitalization, number usage, punctuation, abbreviations, symbols, and metric measurement rules. In the preparation of medical documents, the student will use a variety of reference resources.