Medical Billing and Coding Careers

It's relatively unsurprising, given the ever-increasing expense and complexity of the U.S. health care system, that careers in medical billing and coding are on the rise. Several factors are contributing to this bump.

First, demographics. They're called the baby boomers for a reason. As the largest American generation retires, the demand for nurses, doctors, and medical support personnel must rise. Naturally, as the boomers get older they get sicker, but boomers are also leaving these medical positions behind as they exit the workforce. Ironically, they are both increasing demand and reducing supply.

Second, HMOs. As HMOs have found more and more... “creative” ways to support the bottom line, the number of health care plans, the different levels of coverage, and the maze of co-pay, deductible, opt-in, and opt-out schemes have all grown. It speaks to the utter dysfunction of the system that over 50% of medical claims submitted are initially reject by the insurance companies. Keep in mind, these claims are submitted by professionals!

Finally, there's the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (a mouthful huh?). The HIPAA has moved medical billing from a paper-based system to an electronic one. Unfortunately, the act also made medical coding even more complicated, and the associated paperwork has grown, yet again. However, the good news is that now is an excellent time to start medical coding training. Coding students who enter the field now, will be educated in all of the new standards, and won't have to try to wage the uphill battle of divorcing themselves from ingrained practices.

So, while in an ideal world our health care system would be sane enough to render the medical coder obsolete, that's not likely to happen any time soon. A typical medical coding salary is in excess of 36,000 per year (with a coder that doubles as a biller). And, as previously discussed, demand isn't likely to slack any time soon. With several good options for an online degree, there are few, if any, better options for someone interested in a medical support profession.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMO
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/