Skip to main content

Electronic Medical Billing

The responsibilities embraced by electronic medical billing are as diverse as this particular field of medicine is. It is often equated with medical coding when in fact; the two are two related careers with actually very different responsibilities.

Both jobs are indispensable in the practice management industry. The job of the coder is choosing the correct diagnostic and procedure codes. The electronic medical billing specialist on the other hand makes the decisions based on these codes in order to achieve optimal reimbursements.

Electronic medical billing specialists can be best described as the income manager of the medical practice. Medical billing after all is often called the doctor's key to getting paid. However, the responsibilities of a medical biller actually go beyond mere income management.

Electronic medical billing involves understanding insurances. In a world where patients no longer need to pay cash in order to pay for each visit since they have health insurance to take care of the payments for them, knowledge on how insurance works is an indispensable tool. That is why electronic medical billing professionals are trained not only to understand the medical billing industry, but health insurances, and all the complexities that go with it as well.

Electronic medical billing service thus includes basic, and major medical coverage plans, such as the Free-for-Service Plans, Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), Point-of-Service Plans (POS), and Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs). There are many methods of billing patients and many insurance companies with which electronic medical billing professionals need to deal.

Invoicing Responsibilities

Invoicing is just another one of the many responsibilities of the electronic medical billing specialist. As stated earlier, an increasing amount of patient care is being funded through HMO-related insurance. Thus, the patient merely makes a small co-payment at the time of service and the rest of the doctor's bills are taken care of by the insurance company.

Part of the responsibility of the electronic medical billing professional is to make sure that the patient gets invoiced. The record entry process is better done with the help of computer-aided tools such as medical billing software and solutions.

Medical Biller's Hours

Electronic medical billers are just like average employees. Some of them may work for a large company or work independently. No matter the case, chances are they'll be working forty regular office hours from Monday through Friday.

Most medical offices and clinics are often during the day and during that time, new patient entries are made that would have to be dealt with by the medical biller.

Popular posts from this blog

Medical Billing Careers

Medical billing careers are among the top contenders of the recent job explosion in the healthcare industry. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that it is one of the top twenty occupations in healthcare. Medical billing careers are pivotal to the success of the medical practice. It is often referred to as the doctor's key to getting paid for the services he rendered. Medical billing careers encompass a wide scope and a broad range of responsibilities as it includes front office tasks, among others, in its list of things to do. Nature of Work Success in medical billing careers is not as easy as it is often made out to be by those ads you see in the classified section of the local newspaper or the Internet. Not everyone who enters into one end up rich. Competition is fierce and in the end, the competent ones are the only ones who survive. To achieve some measure of success in medical billing careers, you will need to know all the basic concepts related to the jo...

Billing Insurance Medical Software

The process of selecting billing insurance medical software for a medical office or clinic can be overwhelming and time-consuming. There are just too many billing insurance medical software packages available out there; it's hard to make up your mind. In addition, compliance to strict guidelines regarding the privacy and security of patient records and information is required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). That makes it even harder to find a billing insurance medical software program that hits every aspect of the target. Finding the right type of billing insurance medical software can spell the difference between a good service and a bad one. In fact, the type of billing insurance medical software used in an office or clinic can greatly influence its bottom line. Its effect even embraces such things as business efficiency and employee turnover. There are also hidden costs to billing insurance medical software and they can often...

Medical Insurance Billing Software

Medical insurance billing software has been helping medical practices manage their offices for decades now. In fact, the earliest medical insurance billing software, though somewhat primitive then, started appearing thirty years ago, give or take a few years. One can even say that medical insurance billing software is about as old as medical billing itself. The medical insurance billing software packages today are called medical practice management systems or MPM systems and they bear only the most basic resemblance to their older counterparts. These packages are often packed with features to make medical billing easier and simpler for the medical biller and coder. The uses of medical insurance billing software may vary depending according to the type of features the package contains. Some solutions may allow staffers to track patient demographics, visits, and diagnoses. Others may collect, transmit, and track billing information and insurance payments. Still others apply mor...