So, You Want To Be a Medical Coder or Start Your Own Medical Billing Services From Home?

Find A Medical Coding And

Billing School Near You!

Click button below to see schools

Select your home state

Request info, it's that simple!

Powered by Edu-Search

	The Medical Biller

This is the most trusted online resource for medical coding students and experienced professionals in the medical billing field! We provide free education and certification information, latest tips and articles, and let you explore school and job listings free.

I Can't Believe This.

Seriously, I Can't...

Countless medical office professionals have told us that not having sought certification sooner was a mistake they came to regret. Without the right credentials their career went nowhere! Don't let this to happen to you.

Propel your career to a higher level!

Get this FREE Career Information Kit:

Medical Billing:

The strong growth in the health care industry will contnue to generate jobs in the future; this includes medical billing and coding professionals. We can't discuss medical coding unless we also speak about medical billing. Medical coding and medical billing are closely tied into eachother to assure the providing health care professional gets paid for their medical services.

Billing Areas

There are three basic areas for billing: inpatient hospital, outpatient services and physician billing along with other areas of specialized billing, such as DME (durable medical equipment) and home health care, but the first three are areas most entry level billers start out with.

Medical Claims

Medical office insurance billing (medical claims) is just as diverse as medical coding services. Therefore the medical biller is better described as a medical practice's income manager and thought of as the doctor's key to getting paid.

Training

A number of community and career colleges offer certificate programs for medical billing. Courses typically cover basic biology, anatomy, and physiology in addition to training on coding and computer billing software. Medical billing graduates will also understand the medical billing industry, health insurances and all the complexities that go hand in hand with this career.

Different Types of Billing

Billing for facility-based providers is different from billing for non-facility based providers; just like inpatient coding is different from outpatient coding. Health care provider billing involves submitting claims for individuals, such as physicians, chiropractors, nurse practitioners, physical therapist and podiatrists, etc.; hospital billing involves claims for inpatient services, which, in turn is different from ambulatory emergency services.

Medical Coding Training Schools by State

Directory of medical coding training colleges and schools. Diploma, degree and certificate programs available on-campus and distance learning. Also: medical assisting!

Medical Insurance

Medical billers must understand basic and major medical coverage plans, such as the Fee-for-Service Plans, Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), Point-of-Service Plans (POS) and Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs). There many different methods of billing patients and insurance companies! Making decisions to achieve optimal reimbursements should always best be handled by an experienced medical biller.

Payment

Understanding all aspects of medical insurance, including plan options, carrier requirements, state and federal regulations is essential; as well as the ability to select relevant information from source documents, accurately completing claims and coding diagnoses and procedures.

Based on the amount negotiated by the doctor and the insurance company, the original charge is reduced. The amount that is paid by the insurance is known as an allowable. For example, although a psychiatrist may charge $80.00 for a medication management session, the insurance may only allow $50.00, so a $30 reduction would be assessed.

Copayment

The insurance payment is further reduced if the patient has a copay, deductible, or a coinsurance. If the patient in the previous example had a $5.00 copay, the doctor would be paid $45 by the insurance. The doctor is then responsible for collecting the out-of-pocket expense from the patient. If the patient had a $500.00 deductible, the patient would have to pay the contracted rate of $50 ten times until the deductible was met, at which point the insurance would begin to cover a portion of the charge.

Coinsurance

A coinsurance is a percentage of the allowed amount that the patient must pay. It is most often applied to surgical and/or diagnostic procedures. Using the above example, a coinsurance of 20% would have the patient owing $10 and the insurance company owing $40.

Text in the above paragraph is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.