What Are the Duties of a Medical Biller & Coder?

Medical billers and coders need to be detail-oriented and have good oral and written communication skills to interact with health care facilities and insurance companies. Medical billers and coders spend a lot of their time in front of computers used to track bills and assign codes to various procedures, so they need to work independently and be comfortable with making decisions.

Significance

• Medical billers and coders assign letters and numbers to medical procedures that help hospitals, doctors' offices and insurance companies process payments for patients' care. For example, codes are assigned to tests that a doctor orders for a patient. The patient's health insurance company would use the codes assigned to those tests to determine how much needs to be paid to cover the patient's bill. Improper coding would delay or prevent payment.

Function

• Classification software systems are used to assign codes to various medical procedures and diagnoses. The systems are updated regularly, so medical billers and coders have to keep their computer skills up-to-date and be willing to learn new software systems as needed. Classification systems are used to determine reimbursements for health care providers who treat patients covered by Medicare, Medicaid and other insurance programs. Coders and billers need to handle private information about patients to perform these tasks and are expected to keep patients' health care records confidential.

Considerations

• Medical billers and coders often earn associate degrees to get the training needed to enter the field. People interested in moving into management positions may earn bachelor's degrees in health information management. The industry's emphasis on computer software and technology is expected to grow as more medical facilities maintain electronic health records.

Warning

• The All Allied Health Schools website warns against ads that assert a person can start a medical-billing business simply by getting coding software and approaching doctors' offices to get work. Medical billers need training to understand and handle complex insurance claims. They also need to know procedures for submitting claims and ensuring that insurance companies properly assessed and paid patients' bills.

Expert Insight

• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that employment for medical records workers will grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2018. The expected growth is partly attributed to the increasing use of electronic health records. The BLS notes that the median annual salary for medical records and health information technicians was $30,610 in May 2008.