subject: What is a Career in Medical Billing and Coding ? [print this page] What is a Career in Medical Billing and Coding ?
A career in medical billing and coding can be demanding and fast paced; A medical billing and coding specialist provides both medical billing and coding duties.It can also be tedious, repetitive and plodding where nothing ever changes. How can one thing ever be both medical billing and coding descriptions? It is simple - it depends on where you are working and what you find exciting about the career field. That is why it is important to break it down so that you know exactly what you are considering before you get your feet in the door.
What Does a Medical Billing and Coding Specialist Do?
In some offices, particularly those that involve a lot of medical billing and coding activities or in larger practices, the people in the billing department handle only the billing aspects of the job. In smaller offices, particularly in a small medical practice, the medical billing and coding staff may be asked to handle some of the duties of the receptionist, for instance, answering phones when the receptionist is at lunch or away from the desk for any reason.
The basics of the medical billing and coding job are to look at each patient's chart and assign the correct codes for all services rendered during the visit. This can include:
The visit itself, including the fee for seeing the doctor and any other professional who was brought in to see the patient. In some cases, for instance, the patient can be billed for seeing the nurse practitioner as well as for seeing a doctor.
Any diagnostic tests that were performed (lab tests, EKGs, stress test, X-rays, etc.)
Treatment plans
All other medical procedures
Smooth-running medical office or health care facility
After assigning these codes, the bills are prepared by the medical billing department and then sent to the appropriate agencies (government or private insurance offices) for remittance. This is how the doctor is paid for all services performed in the office, so it is important that these are done correctly and quickly.
After sending in the bills, the medical coding staff sends the completed charts to the file clerks to be filed away- however in some office set ups, this task is often handled by the meidcal billing department as well.
What Happens after Medical Billing and Coding Jobs?
In most cases, the insurance company pays the bills based on the medical coding that is in place, however, this is not always the true. The insurance company will deny certain claims for a number of reasons. Once this happens, the medical billing and coding specialist must research the denied claim to find out why it happened and then resubmit the bill using either a different code or explanations of why the first code was used. The billing department will also send out bills to the patients directly, not only for co-pays but also for denied claims as well.
