Medical Billers Are In Increasing Demand

Medical billers are professionals who handle the process of securing payment from insurance companies for services rendered by a medical provider – i.e. hospitals, doctors and other practitioners. Based on a patient’s medical record and codes assigned to the medical treatments and care performed by the provider, the medical biller forwards a form (usually electronically) to the patient’s insurance company, enabling the provider to collect the fee. Alternatively, a medical biller may work at an insurance company or legal firm, determining the insured’s portion of payment for a medical procedure and billing them for it.

This job is in increasing demand due to the proliferation of false medical claims, claims abuse, and various issues concerning the fairly troubled state of health care in the U.S. these days.

Types of Medical Billing Jobs

Medical billers are not only hired by hospitals, clinics, small family practices, long term care facilities, pharmacies and so on. They are also employed at accounting firms, insurance companies, consulting firms and law offices. This is essentially a legal/accounting type of position. All of these types of companies need professionals that have a deep knowledge of the legal ins and outs of medical insurance claims and the paperwork that goes along with it.

Though it can be a fairly challenging career choice due to the amount of in depth legal and financial knowledge required, one of the nice things about this job is that it can be done in a variety of settings. It can even be a freelance type of position done from a home office. Especially since all most all filing of claims is done electronically now, the large majority of the process can be taken care of online and with fax machines. Though it often takes the form of a nine to five office job, you might consider freelancing if you’re interested in this kind of work but don’t want to be tied down to set hours and a single location.

Education

Those seeking jobs as medical billers are not specifically required to have education and certification, but it is highly advantageous to them if they receive education in the area of medical billing. Employers look much more favorably on someone who has a solid education and/or experience background in the subject. There are certification exams such as The Certified Medical Reimbursement Exam which if successfully passed greatly increases the medical billing job seeker’s prospects of hire. Medical billing training programs are available at a wide range of educational institutions as well as online universities.

Salary Ranges

The pay range for medical billing is reasonably high. According to the site payscale.com the average yearly rate is from around $26k to $36k per year, with an hourly rate of around $12 to $16 an hour. However, for experienced medical billers, the pay can go as high as $40 hourly. So as you can see this can be a fairly lucrative career choice.

If you’re someone who enjoys accuracy, working with numbers, and helping sort out legal and financial situations medical billing could be for you. It is a respected career that doesn’t usually require years of preparation to begin in. And the longer you do it and more experience you get, the more you can make. In addition to this you get the satisfaction of knowing you’re helping people to get the health care they need and helping medical practitioners get the money due them for the services they provide.