I was a MA (medical assistant) before I was a nurse and the former job required a working knowledge of medical coding. Specifically, I "knew" about a dozen codes and their modifications and would apply them to the paperwork as a patient had just finished and before the records went to billing where the codes were often modified again based on the docs notes.
When a doc would come out he would stop by to tell me what he wanted to bill and if there was anything out of the ordinary.
Billing is where medical coding really plays a major part and you often memorize three or four dozen codes. But it's not rocket science and doesn't require an incredible memory.
A few years later I found myself writing software for an insurance firm and again messing around with medical codes.
