In Demand Career:  Medical Billing and Coding

By Randall Olson

When choosing a career path, one of the most important things to consider is the long-term job market in your chosen field.  If you are going to train for and specialize in a particular line of work, it is important to be sure that there is going to be demand for people who have your skills in the geographic area where you want to live and work.

The medical industry is one of the fastest-growing of all fields, and this trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.  There are a number of significant factors contributing to the growth of the medical industry, such as the aging baby boomer population and technological advances that are resulting in extended life expectancies.  The bottom line is that professionals with the skills needed to handle the administrative functions associated with running medical offices and processing health insurance claims are in high-demand. 

What Do Medical Billing and Coding Professionals Do?

The roles of Medical Billing and Coding professionals can vary greatly from one organization or position to the next.  There are job opportunities for Medical Billing and Coding professionals in many different types of work environments, some of which involve patient contact and some that do not. 

Some opportunities for skilled Medical Billing and Coding professionals include:

• Medical Billing Service
• Dental Office
• Healthcare Informatics
• Hospital Business Office
• Insurance Company
• Insurance Processing
• Medical Practice
• Medical Collections
• Medial Records
• Patient Admissions
• Surgery Scheduling
• Many other areas

Medical Billing and Coding professionals who work for a billing service or in the business office at a hospital are likely to have little or no patient contact, and will spend their time processing medical bills, insurance claims, and payments.  Those who work in a medical practice, surgery scheduling, or in hospital patient admissions are going to interact with patients one-on-one and have duties related to insurance record keeping and pre-authorizations, and are likely to perform additional administrative functions as well. 

Preparing for a Medical Billing and Coding Career

It is important to know what types of skills that employers need so you can make an informed decision about the best type of training for your chosen profession.  When hiring Medical Billing and Coding employees, employers look for employees with a combination of the types of technical skills that are needed in the particular job as well as a positive attitude and strong communication skills. 

Medical Billing and Coding professionals need to have a solid base in medical terminology, the ability to identify and work with diagnosis and procedure codes, and patient records management skills.  Many employers, particularly billing services and hospitals, require keyboarding and numeric data entry skills.

When considering your options for preparing for a career in Medical Billing and Coding, it is vital to focus your efforts on getting and polishing the skills that employers demand.  Many of the skills that employers value are best learned in a hands-on environment.  Make sure that at the conclusion of your chosen training program that you are likely to have the skills that employers value.  There will always be a high demand for individuals with strong skills in all aspects of medical office administration.

Randall Olson is a career training expert with Mobile Technical Institute http://www.mobiletechwebsite.com.  He specializes in helping individuals identify  career goals and training needs for success in the high-demand fields of Office Administration, Medical Billing and Coding, and Information Technology.  His expertise encompasses instructor-led, online, and hybrid training, and he also oversees the Institute’s Mobile AL training and certification testing certification center.