Skip to main content

Medical Billing and Coding

What is medical billing and coding? This is probably not the first time you have heard of the phrase but what exactly does it mean? What do a medical biller and coder do?

Medical billing and coding is essentially a support service designed for physicians who are slumped with endless piles of paperwork or electronic claims. Most patients these days have health insurance providers to pay for their healthcare needs. In order for a physician or the healthcare provider to get paid, they would have to file a claim for reimbursement fees for the services they rendered. This is where medical billing and coding come in.

Medical billing and coding helps support physicians, clinics, hospitals, and patients in handling allied health issues. Medical offices, clinics, hospitals, health insurance companies, and many more seek the help of medical billing and coding professionals. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that medical billing and coding specialists along with health information technicians are one of the ten fastest growing allied health occupations in the medical industry.

Medical billing and coding specialists are considered experts in their fields. They are all highly trained so their skills are therefore much valued by the healthcare community. Medical billers and coders are compensated according to their level of training, experience, skills, and how effectively these skills are used. There have been reports that the average annual salary range for medical billers and coders is between $33,370 and $415,061. That alone is enough attraction for any enterprising individual to start engaging in medical billing and coding.

However, don't be fooled into thinking that medical billing and coding is an easy career to get into. It is a job that requires expertise and highly specialized skill on a field where the scope is broad, encompassing billing and accounts receivable, medical office management, insurance claims processing, submitting claims, etc.

The medical billing and coding process starts long before the patient actually arrives for the appointment and continues after the patient has been seen. Delays, inaccuracies, or miscommunications could spell issues which you don't want to have when you're trying to get the claim out. Thus, it is important that insurance benefits are verified ahead of the patient's appointment time. Later, after the physician has seen the patient, the notes he made on the medical record will then be converted into codes for coding the insurance claim procedure.

Medical billing and coding can be a challenging career. But it can also be very rewarding for those who make it. The opportunities for medical billing and coding professionals are numerous. And with further education and training, they could become endless.

Popular posts from this blog

There Is Little Chance That You Will Win That Medical Malpractice Law Suit

Out of the every five cases that make it to court, only one medical malpractice law suit comes out ahead. This is pretty bad odds by any standard. This happens because the strength of any medical malpractice law suit depends upon the ability of the medical malpractice attorney to put up the technical and non-technical medical terms in a simple and legible language both for the jury and the judge. It also depends upon the capacity of the medical malpractice attorney to gather the required information to back the case. It takes a lot of effort to prove the merits of a medical malpractice law suit and since it involves a lot of expenses, most of the people prefer to settle for out-of-court offers. It easier for the aggrieved person to accept an apology and a modest sum of compensation money, than spend his/her time and money pursuing justice in the court of law - that may never happen in the end. What It Takes To Improve The Chances To Win Your Medical Malpractice Law Suit The claimant ne...

Facing Confidentiality and Electronic Medical Records Concerns

With more and more hospitals employing the electronic medical record as their standard data collection, storage and retrieval system, there are those who are concerned with the risks in the confidentiality and electronic medical records system. The old way of doing things required a lot of paperwork. This meant more office space was allotted for record keeping. This usually meant a filing cabinet with a key as its main security defense against other people. The talk of confidentiality and electronic medical records keeping true to that sense is only a hype, or fluke. The concerns of confidentiality and electronic medical records falling into the wrong hands are grossly exaggerated. To put these concerns on confidentiality and electronic medical records intrusive capability, the software developers have added several security measures to insure that only those who need to know about your information get it and the information that the doctor is reading is really about you: * ...

Medical Billing Courses

First things are always first. Even though medical billing has been named one of the fastest growing occupations in the medical field industry, this doesn't mean that it's that easy to get into. Before you can call yourself a true professional in medical billing in every sense of the word, first you must learn the ins and the outs of your chosen profession. Fortunately, medical billing courses are not hard to find. Just log into any major search engine and type the words "medical billing courses" and you should be able to find a long list of online programs for medical billing training. The biggest aspect of medical billing courses and training consists of learning medical terminology, numerical codes to ensure proper financial reimbursement, and health care records management skills. Health care records management skills are especially an integral aspect of medical billing courses since a major part of the medical biller's job is to keep paperwork and payments fl...