Career Guide Starting a Career in Medical Billing and Coding

Medical industry as one of America’s fastest-growing field, has been showing its exceptional demand recent years. Obviously, this industry involves a large stream of occupations and positions. To what we most familiar about perhaps are Doctors, RNs (Registered Nurse), LPNs (Licensed Practical Nurse) or MA (Medical Assistant). However, they are a lot of other indispensable positions involves in the healthcare industry as well. Essentially, they might be Phlebotomist, EKG technician, CNA (Certified Nurse Aide), HHA (Home Health Aide), Medical Secretary and Administrative Assistant so on. This article will mainly discuss information about careers in Medical Billing and Coding.

Medical Billing and Coding Specialist Statistics

According to the latest information from U.S.U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Medical Billing and Coding is under the category of Medical Secretary and Administrative Assistant. Its mean hourly wage is $18.75 and with mean annual wage of $ 39,000. Since every medical facility all needs someone to be responsible for medical billing and coding tasks, whether is doctor or nurse do it by self along with other responsibilities or particularly hire a person to complete. What can be sure is this position’s demand is projected to rise with the aging population’s need for more healthcare services.

If you are interested in learning Medical Billing and Coding or you already have the skills with the intent of being certified. Let’s talk about this career in details as following. Please note even this position often work in a medical facility setting where patients looking for treatment and procedures, yet Medical Billing and Coding Specialist is mostly an office administrative job as opposed to patient-facing clinical work. Majority of time they will sit in the office and deal with computers such as reviewing, entering or updating information.

What is Medical Billing and Coding Specialist

A Medical Billing and Coding Specialist plays important role between medical facility and insurance company. This position helps the medical facility manage insurance claims, invoices, and payments. A sample job duty of this position is usually as following:

• Review patient information and interpret services into correct codes
• Input medical data entry into patient account systems
• Understand the universal code classifications such as ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases) and CPT (Current Procedural Terminology)
• Communicate with insurance providers, medical staff and patients
• Verify coverage and eligibility for medical services
• Review patient bills and correct any missing or inaccurate information
• Use a billing software to prepare and transmit claims
• Collect unpaid claims and clear up discrepancies
• Investigate and appeal claims that were denied
• Complete data entry to update spreadsheets and reports
• Work with patients to set up payment plans
• Adapt to updates and changes in billing software
• Complete other necessary tasks and most times involve multi-tasking

Medical billing and medical coding have slightly different job duties, but generally are intertwined. Many medical facilities hire coding and billing specialist to perform both responsibilities with training. Some larger facilities then will have separate personnel to deal with billing and coding. Essentially, these positions work very closely all along together in order to perform the process correctly and timely. After all, the main purpose of medical billing and coding is avoiding errors so payments are collected with in a timely manner.

Are you ready to become a medical coding and billing specialist? If this sounds like you, explore our website or call us at 718-762-1900 to learn more about our training offered.