Friday, February 25, 2011

Medical Billing Job Description and Salary Range

If you've been thinking about entering the field of medical billing I'm sure you're wondering what exactly a medical biller does and what salary you can expect. There is a lot of interest in this field and many ways to enter it. Although experience is best it takes getting a job in that field to get experience and it can be a vicious circle. But first the job description. Keep in mind that depending on the facility you may or may not be doing all of the following. And if you work for a billing service your job may be quite different since it is not a medical facility.


If you work as a medical biller or a certified Medical Billing Specialist you will compile and track outstanding balances that are owed to medical clinics, medical offices or other medical facilities. You would maintain the records of payment for all patients for that medical facility. You would make payment arrangements with the patient and collect on any past due accounts.


As a medical biller, medical billing assistant, billing clerk or billing specialist you would have access to a lot of confidential medical information. You would be working with collection agencies and even the courts to collect on delinquent accounts. You may also be working with lawyers and others on the estates of patients who have passed away on resolving their unpaid accounts. You would be working and coordinating the deductions from payroll for the employees of your clinic or facility. You'll be aware of the rules and regulations you must follow to be in compliance with any local, state or federal laws or regulations.


Now what skill should you have? You'll be working with a lot of numbers and technology. You want to be comfortable using a computer, software and office equipment. You'll be learning billing software if you haven't learned it in medical billing training. You don't need to learn coding as that is a separate function and coding is usually done before it reaches the biller, but some knowledge of it can only help. You will want to have good communication skills as you may be talking to people about their medical bills.


The salary you can expect will depend on previous experience and medical billing training you have had. You will make a higher salary as a certified Medical Billing Specialist which requires taking a national exam. But generally your range will be in the $31,000 to $45,000 range. The more experience the higher the pay generally. There are lots of ways to get experience and training including medical billing training online and at your local college. There is plenty of money and financial aid available for online courses and you want to check out every school thoroughly to avoid any scams.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Medical billers are definitely one of those good paying jobs that allows you to work even at the comfort of your home. The good news is that there are also online medical billing training programs that are accredited and approved to teach interested people about this job. They can train and work at home with this field.

froz said...

Thank you for this update on medical billing. and i found the points on its job description with the salary really informative.. here's another site that i came across which gave me a lot of insight on the same http://www.medical-billing.com/