Medical billing and coding is a popular career path in the rapidly growing field of healthcare. Medical billers and coders typically enjoy more flexibility in their schedule and work environment and are not required to complete as rigorous educational requirements as other healthcare professionals. However, with thousands and thousands of codes - each tailored to fit multiple diagnoses, symptoms, treatments, and medications, it is important that medical billing and coding professionals have proper preparation and training. On MedicalBillingandCoding.org, you will find all of the information that you need to:

• Select an accredited medical billing and coding school.
• Obtain the skills necessary to become a medical billing or coding specialist.
• Choose the certification you need to find a job.
• Find employers in your area that pay the most and hire most frequently.

But is medical billing and coding the right career choice for you? The field certainly requires an attentive individual with a keen eye for detail.

"If you don't like to read carefully and don't have a very good memory, I would not suggest you go into this field," noted Pam Lounsbery, a certified medical biller and coder in Michigan. "There is so much to pay attention to and to remember."

However, if you are a meticulous, detail-oriented worker with good memorization skills, medical billing and coding might be a rewarding and challenging career in a growing field.

What is Medical Billing and Coding?

Though typically referred to as a single discipline, medical billing is actually a subspecialty of medical coding. More specifically, a medical biller prepares reimbursement requests on behalf of medical care providers and facilities to ensure insurance companies pay them back for the services they provide. While this might seem as simple as sending the insurance company a bill, it's not - hence the need for coding specialists to properly document a patient's diagnosis and treatment.

Mistakes in the medical billing and coding industry can be disastrous and can make the difference between patients getting the treatment they need and having to pay for whatever treatments they can afford. What's more, medical billers and coders have a huge financial impact on both the patients and medical facilities they work with on a daily basis. A patient's diagnosis and treatment are the main factors in determining the amount of money that a hospital receives from the insurance company. However, the specificity with which a patient's diagnosis is documented can cause the reimbursement amount to vary a great deal. For example, according to Richard D. Pinson, M.D., of HQC Consulting in Houston, TX, documenting a condition as "simple pneumonia" rather than "aspiration pneumonia" can result in the provider receiving $1,500-$3,000 less from the insurance company.

In addition, it is important to remember that coding and billing may not be the only tasks that a medical billing and coding specialist handles. For this reason, it may be beneficial to take additional courses in administration and medical documentation during your education. This will provide you with a more comprehensive skill set desired by prospective employers. According to a 2008 survey by the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC), 58% of participating medical billers and coders stated that 80-100% of their job involved coding. Twenty-three percent of the respondents stated that coding comprised 50-79% of their responsibilities, and 19% reported coding took up less than 50% of the time. When not coding, these individuals were often responsible for clinical or administrative tasks.

Medical Billing and Coding Education

Many employers require individuals to obtain continuing education units (CEUs) to remain certified. Online medical billing and coding courses are a great solution for working adults to satisfy these CEU requirements. According to the AAPC, 26.3% of medical billers and coders surveyed in 2008 paid between $101 and $250 out-of-pocket for CEUs, professional membership fees, and other resources. Nineteen percent paid between $251 and $500, and 15.2% paid more than $500 every year. However, 71% of respondents noted their employers reimbursed them at least partially for these costs.

Is Medical Billing and Coding for You?

Medical Billing and Coding is a growing industry and a great career choice for attentive, detail-oriented individuals. But that does not mean it is for everyone.

"I would recommend medical billing and coding to people who can learn new things," said Bethany Despot, a medical billing and coding student studying at Northern Michigan University. "If you don’t like stress, I wouldn’t take this job. You do deal with angry patients sometimes, which they’re teaching us to do in our classes. If you’re prone to mistakes I wouldn’t take this job either, because a mistake could potentially cost a patient their life, not only you your job."

With an increase in digital recordkeeping and more and more people are looking to work from home, medical billing and coding is often considered to be a career that allows some flexibility in this regard. However, according to a 2008 AAPC survey, only about one third of respondents reported they were able to work from home at least some of the time. Still, as medical records become increasingly digitized over the next few years these numbers may increase.