In today’s world of rising medical costs, billing and coding professionals are essential to managing the cost of healthcare. If you want to become a medical billing and coding specialist, you may have a question: What is a Medical Biller and Coder Career Guide?
Learn More about the Medical Biller & Coder Job Description
But what exactly is a medical biller, and how does a career in this field differ from that of a coder? And what about the difference between these professions and an administrative assistant? What about insurance verification specialist jobs?
This article will answer those questions by outlining each profession’s responsibilities, education and certification requirements, job outlooks, and salaries. Finally, we’ll give you our top advice on how to get started in your new career!
What Do Medical Billers & Coders Do?
Medical billers and coders are highly skilled professionals who work with healthcare providers to process medical claims. They are medically trained and specialize in ensuring that patients receive the benefits they deserve and that medical practices receive payment for their services. While medical billing and coding are separate fields, they are interrelated in the healthcare industry.
Medical billing refers to submitting insurance claims for coverage; coding refers to assigning ICD-10 or Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes—denoting procedures, diagnoses, fees, and treatments—to each claim. Medical biller jobs require less education than those in other areas of healthcare administration, like nursing or pharmacy management. However, they still require a strong background in math skills (especially computer operations).
Where Can a Medical Biller and Coder Work?
Medical billing and coding careers can be found in various settings. Hospitals, healthcare providers, and medical billing and coding companies are the most common locations.
Hospitals:
Medical billing and coding professionals may work directly for a hospital or for an outside company that provides services to the hospital. They work with physicians who do patient care during the admission process, so they need excellent communication skills to work well with everyone involved in each case.
Healthcare Providers:
In this setting, medical billers and coders will help doctors’ offices manage their paperwork throughout treatment. These professionals must pay strong attention to detail since they ensure all information on forms is correct before submitting them to insurance companies or other third parties (such as Medicare).
How do you find a good school for medical billing and coding?
Finding a good medical billing and coding school can be difficult when starting as a medical biller. This is especially true if you need to know your options or where to look for schools that offer the appropriate training. This section will discuss locating a quality trade school and what to look for when choosing one.
To start, you can get certified as a medical biller in several different types of schools. The best option is typically going through an accredited vocational or technical school because they offer hands-on training and often have flexible schedules. This allows working professionals like yourself to attend classes during your off-time from work without scheduling conflicts.
The Difference Between Medical Billing and Medical Coding
Although it’s not always easy to tell the difference between medical billing and coding, these two roles are very different. They are both part of the healthcare industry, but they are different types of jobs that serve different purposes.
Medical billing is a role within the healthcare industry where you will be responsible for receiving payments from patients or insurance companies on behalf of doctors, clinics and hospitals. Your job responsibilities include:
Collecting fees from patients or insurers
Receiving payment by check, credit card or electronic funds transfer (EFT)
Entering medical information into an electronic database
What Does it Take To Become a Medical Biller and Coder?
Medical billing and coding is a growing field, but it’s not always easy to get started. While many medical billers and coders have some type of degree, you don’t necessarily need one. Depending on your career path, you may be able to enter the field with a high school diploma or GED and maybe even work your way up from there.
The most common types of education include:
A high school diploma or GED
A certificate or associate’s degree in medical billing and coding
A certificate or associate’s degree in another related field such as healthcare administration or computer science
A bachelor’s degree in any subject area (this can include degrees like biology)
A bachelor’s degree focused on healthcare management or information technology
JOB OUTLOOK FOR MEDICAL BILLERS AND CODERS
The medical billing and coding field is expected to grow because of the increasing complexity of the health care system in the United States, which means that there is a high demand for billers and coders. As a career choice, it’s also attractive because you can specialize in various areas of medicine, from dermatology to cardiology. If you’re interested in pursuing this kind of work, you should know that certification isn’t required for most positions but does help open up more opportunities. Most importantly though, with hard work and dedication you can become an expert biller or coder who will be able to make a difference at their job.
The medical billing and coding field is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2024.
To become a medical biller or coder, you need to complete training at an accredited program and pass a certification exam.
You can find jobs as a medical biller or coder on job search sites, such as Monster and Indeed.
