What is medical billing and coding?

What exactly consists of Medical Billing and Coding?

  • Is it hard? What does it involve? What kind of environment would I be in once I start doing that? Thank you!

  • Answer:

    From what I have read, medical billing and coding is a job that gives every medical service provided to a patient an alphanumeric code. These codes are used to keep better track of procedures and are mainly used to bill insurance companies for the specific procedures. You could work as the one making the codes. You could be the one reading the medical charts and attaching medical codes to each service provided. You could be the one making sure that the correct codes were used, that there are no duplicate codes or, even working for the insurance companies, making sure that no fraud is being committed. There are also billers that work in collections. There is a myriad of possibilities and each specialization (grastroenterologist, psychiatrist, general doctor etc) has a set of codes that pertain to it that are nationally recognized and some even internationally. The evironment, for the most part, will be in an office whether it be in a hospital, docotor's office, insurance company's office or many others. *SOME* offices are willing to let you work from home once you've worked with them long enough and are confident of your abilities and work ethic. As for difficulty, from what I keep reading, it envolves a LOT of memorizing codes, it requires meticulous organizational skills, ability to turn over reports promptly and without error, since this is how the office gets paid, and some stress since you are dealing with people's paychecks and health care. I am in the process of researching this career also. I found a website that has a lot of articles on multiple careers that might interest you, moneymakingmommy.com. Search for medical billing and there will be an article or two that pop up. At the bottom of the article will be multiple other articles that might interest you regarding that one particular field.

Just me at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

Here is some info: Pay: The median annual wage of medical records and health information technicians was $30,610 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $24,290 and $39,490. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $20,440, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $50,060. Demand:Employment is expected to grow 20%- much faster than the average. Job prospects should be very good; technicians with a strong understanding of technology and computer software will be in particularly high demand. Education and training: Typical coursework in health information technology includes medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, health data requirements and standards, clinical classification and coding systems, data analysis, healthcare reimbursement methods, database security and management, and quality improvement methods. Applicants can improve their chances of admission into a postsecondary program by taking biology, math, chemistry, health, and computer science courses in high school. Nature of Work: You will be sitting at the computer typing in codes from medical records. Medical coding and billing is applying standardized numeric codes to procedures and supplies used during an office visit or hospital stay. So for example, if a woman comes to the hospital to have a baby, her medical file will list all the medications and quantity used, the # of hours nursers attended the mother, the # of hours the nurses attended the baby, the supplies used during delivery and during her stay, the meals, the # of hours in the delivery room, the # of hours in the recovery room, etc. The medical coder and biller will then apply industry codes to everything and then apply dollar amounts to each item. Have you ever seen a medical bill for even a doctor visit? There is usually a code then a description and then a dollar amount. That was prepared by a medical coder and biller. Hope this is helpful!

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.