Medical billing is the practice of submitting claims to insurance companies or to the government to receive payment for services provided by doctors or other health care professionals. Medical billers should also have its privacy for it involves money. They work away from the public’s eye in a claims processing office or in the billing department of a hospital. Medical billers work a minimum of forty (40) hours per week from Monday to Friday and can exceed depending on some situations with equivalent overtime pay. Medical billers should also know about common medical terminologies in order to somehow understand what the physician is talking about. Medical billers should have a typing time of 35-40 words per minute because they sometimes have to type in what the doctor says or orders.
Medical billers attend to patient’s needs not in terms of physical, emotional, or mental aspects but in financial reasons. This gives medical billers an important role in the medical office team. They are responsible whenever the patient has received medical attention, this time a claim is encoded by the medical biller then billed and processed. In this time the case is closed. Good personality and accommodating behaviors are just few of the must have characteristics of the medical biller. This job involves interpersonal communications and interactions. Good communication and clerical skills also important traits to have. As you can see, medical billers give advantage or in other words help both the patient and the healthcare provider. For the patient’s side, the medical biller acts as the patient’s advocate while on the healthcare provider’s side, the medical biller is their key to getting paid.
Medical billers could either be employed in a facility such as hospitals and other private health care facilities or they could work independently and make medical billing as a business. They could act as consultants, or even encoders and having the physicians or doctors as their customers. According to the national survey, almost 50 percent of the medical billers are uncertified. The US government hopes to eventually get all medical billers to be credentialed and certified for quality assurance.
To become part of this profession, a candidate must be at least a high school graduate with subjects namely mathematics, biology, health, typing, and the most important of all is having a background on computers or in information technology. There is no formal training for this course but there are vocational programs offers such training with the accreditation by the US Education Department. This course could last from 1-2 years and trainees could receive a certification that would enable them to work in this profession.
The high demand on the market allows billing specialists to have a good amount of pay. Medical billers and coder’s salary depend on their level of training, years of experience, and how effectively these skills are used. According to salary.com, the average annual medical billing and coding salary of a medical biller and coder ranges from $33,370-$41,400. This is a good business and a good profession. You could earn at the convenience of your home or at the medical office without the disturbance of the outside world.
