Medical Billing and Coding Job Requirements and Salary

If you're thinking about entering the medical billing or medical coding field you'll be glad to know that there is a strong demand for qualified, experienced medical billers and medical coders. I discovered that medical coding first came into being because there was a need to standardize and organize all the new technologies and medical and surgical procedures. So much new information has surfaced over the years that improved medical billing and coding techniques were necessary.

Insurance companies and health care providers needed these codes to help classify claims. Because of this need for better coding and billing practices, the demand for billers and coders increased. This has made billing and coding jobs the fastest growing area in health care.

Besides working for large billing services, there is a huge need in insurance companies, large clinics, doctor's offices and other healthcare facilities. These companies are looking for experienced and educated people. Making mistakes in billing can cause a lot of problems legally. So usually they prefer that an individual has experience or good medical billing training.

There are no state requirements for certification. You can take one national certification exam to get a certificate in medical billing as a Specialist but it's not a state requirement. The organizations that offer the exams are not state or federal organizations. Medical coding also has no state requirements for certification.

Although on occasion an employer may hire someone with no experience, it's possible that if you have related experience they may decide to hire and train you using their expensive software. But generally they would like you to have some experience or medical coding or medical billing training through a college, university, trade school or online school.

Can you get a job in coding or billing? This is a copy of the wording in a classified ad in our local newspaper today to give you an idea of what to expect. Make sure to check all your local newspapers and surrounding newspapers to see what's stated in the ads. Here it is: "Medical Billing Specialist, full time, permanent position, Monday through Friday, flexible hours, requires insurance/Medicare billing experience. Electronic billing required. Long term care experience helpful. Basic computer skills required. Competitive salary. Submit resume."

Ads can vary in many ways. You can call these companies and find out a lot of information too about future hiring and if they ever have any other medical billing or coding jobs that don't require as much experience or education.

Medical coders with little experience may start out their career at $9 to $10 an hour and work up to $35 to $45 an hour. You can see it won't take long to get experience and your value as an employee will be rewarded with a higher hourly rate. Once you have this experience you'll be able to move into other companies at a higher salary. But there is much more to know about how to get your training online or offline and how to get it cheap and avoid scams. Federal money is available for online classes too.