Medical Billing and Coding Salary Per Hour

The job profile of a medical billing and coding professional is to transfer doctors and health care professionals notes, diagnostic reports and treatment plans into internationally accepted alpha numeric codes. They work under hospital and clinic settings in their billings and claims department interpreting medical data. The job is of high responsibility as it pertains to dealing with insurance companies regarding payments. Many people have made a successful career, earning average yearly salaries that range between USD 22,000 to USD 40,000. Educational courses are offered by vocational training institutes to train aspirants in the nuances of this profession.

Salary Range

Medical billing and coding specialists play an important part in the healthcare industry and provide their expert services to ease the workload off the staff involved in patient care like doctors and nurses. The US law mandates that all medical transcripts pertaining to patient diagnosis and treatment be transferred into internationally identifiable codes for claiming insurance. They are compensated well for performing these duties with hourly wages that start from $12. Individuals with experience are known to earn around $25 per hour.

The geographic location of the job also plays a part in deciding the hourly wages. Cities which have high cost of living like New York will pay comparatively higher wages than cities which have a low cost of living. Statistics indicate that hourly wages in Sacramento California range between $21 - $25 per hour and in Colorado Springs Colorado the wages dip to range between $8 - $18 per hour. Statistical data for states like Washington show that hourly wages range from $12 - $23 and for Oregon the wages stand between $11 - $17 per hour.

Candidate's experience also influences the pay check, people who are relatively new in the field and have 0-1 years of experience can expect wages that range between $10 - $14 per hour. Candidates who have experience of 5-10 years can expect between $15 - $19 per hour. Although there are conflicting reports about the wages of people who have more than 10 years of experience as most move on to managerial positions and supervise other specialists. Some statistics show that people with more than 10 years of experience earn around $20 - $24 per hour.

Education and Job Description

People interested in making a mark in this profession can enroll for courses offered by medical schools and vocational training institutes. All you need is a high school diploma or GED equivalent to enroll for these programs. The duration of the training programs can range between 4-18 months. Students will learn about the International Classification of Disease Manual - Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes as they have to transfer the reports generated by health care professionals in to these codes for insurance claims. The course work will also include knowledge of the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT). Some of these courses are even offered online and are very popular with the general population. Students looking for gainful employment would be helped if they acquire certification from the American Academy of Professional Coders (AACP).

The job consists of reading through doctors reports and interpreting them correctly to transfer it into appropriate (ICD-9-CM) codes. They will also look at diagnostic tests ordered by doctors and include them in the insurance claims. The specialists will also have to transfer the treatment plans and reports into internationally recognized codes for submitting them to insurance companies for billing purposes. Contacting and sending the appropriately coded reports to insurance companies and following up on claims is also a part of their job.

This career is seeing a fast growth with more and more people using their qualifications to run successful home business. Industry experts believe that growth in the medical sector will raise employment opportunities making it a good career choice for some.