
Wondering where a medical billing and coding certification can take you?
Plenty of places, depending on training, work ethic, local job demand and your own efforts to find employment. A certification can take your employment possibilities to the next level. It tells the world that you are a professional who is qualified to perform the tasks required of a medical billing and coding specialist.
What Certification Means
With certification, medical insurance billers and coders may benefit from the following:
- Higher professional standards
- Increased professional demeanor
- Ability to command respect and trust
- Potential to earn a higher income
Medical insurance billers and coders are respected health care professionals. Their job is to make sure that accurate records are kept for insurance billing purposes.
Without accurate records, health care providers may not receive proper payments. Faulty coding could prevent patients from receiving the correct treatment or medications.
How to Become a Certified Medical Insurance Biller and Coder
The first task is to enroll in and graduate from a medical insurance billing and coding program offered by an accredited school. The next step is to pass the exam given by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) or by the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC). Both organizations offer a medical billing and coding certificate that ensures the skill of medical insurance billing and coding professionals.
CMRS Exam
The Certified Medical Reimbursement Specialist (CMRS) exam is an additional exam offered to students who hope to receive a certification that enhances their professional status. The CMRS is offered through the American Medical Billers Association (AMBA).
RHIA Exam
Some medical insurance billing and coding professionals choose to take the Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) exam. This classifies them as being capable in managing patient medical records and health information.
Registered health information administrators may find (but are not limited to) employment opportunities in a number of health care locations, including hospitals, mental health facilities, physicians’ clinics and long-term care facilities.
Certified Professional Coder Certificate (CPC)
To gain CPC-H or CPC-P certification status, you must have worked as a medical insurance biller and coder for at least two years. These certificates must be renewed each year. You must also have knowledge about CPT, ICD-9-CM, HCPCS, HCPCS coding manuals, pharmacology, human anatomy and medical terminologies.
- Certified Professional Coder Hospital (CPC-H)
- Certified Professional Coder Payer (CPC-P)
- Certified Professional Coder Apprentice (CPC-A)
The CPC-A certificate does not require two or more years of experience. You can upgrade to CPC status once you have two or more years of experience.
Congratulations! You have finished medical billing and coding school, landed a medical billing or coding job and are about to embark on your new career. You may be wondering what to expect during your first few days. Will the new employer expect you to jump right in and start sending claims? What kind of on-the-job training might you expect? Is your education going to be up to the challenge? Although the first few days at a medical billing and coding job will vary by employer, there are a few things you can expect with any job.
If you do not take the education first route for your medical billing or coding career, there are some basic sets of information you should know. Not only will this information help make your first days on the job easier, knowing some of these key industry words may help you land the job. Below are key acronyms, words and facts you should acquaint yourself with before starting your medical billing job.
Supervisors and bosses can be wonderful, horrible, or somewhere in between. This is true of all occupations, but can be especially noticeable in the medical billing and coding field. Demands for quick claims processing and medical records management clash with the need for quality and compliance. Management usually has to explain any mistakes to a committee of reviewers just moments after answering to operations executives about process efficiency. Often, the heat is passed from management to the billers and coders themselves.
Medical coders are responsible for ensuring proper diagnosis coding for each procedure billed to an insurance company. Although most claims billers do not actually code diagnosis, they are often responsible for choosing the correct code for each claim. This article provides tips for accurate coding as well as information regarding diagnosis codes on claims.
Once you have completed a course in medical billing and coding or have decided you want to look for a job without attempting education, there are numerous places you can look for work. This article provides a guide to landing a billing or coding position.
Possibly the most important task for a medical biller or coder working in the claims billing process is to send clean claims. Clean claims are error free claims that pass through payer filters without raising flags. Clean claims support a faster collection cycle, reduce denials and avoid unnecessary payer audits.
Many people new to the medical billing and coding industry believe these two functions are the same thing. In reality, many companies treat the jobs separately, although the skills sets are closely related. This article provides a detailed description of each function and a brief overview about what sort of job opportunities are available to individuals with medical billing and coding experience.
One of the most important things any medical biller or coder should be aware of is regulations regarding the industry. Laws that govern the healthcare industry can come from the federal, state or local level. In addition to legal issues, billers and coders must also deal with rules imposed by payers, accreditation agencies and their own employer. The volume of regulations can make anyone’s head spin, but it is important to follow all laws. After all, no one really looks good in an orange jump suit!
All the different medical insurance billing and coding salaries is dependent upon several factors such as one’s instructional training course, work expertise and the particular location where the first is positioned. An experienced and licensed billing and coding professional who may have enough career expertise will probably generate over an expert that has not too long ago set out on the profession.