Are you wondering what the medical billing and coding salary is? Are you not sure whether this is the right job for you or not? Then read on. Medical billing and coding is considered to be one of the most highly specialized professions in the medical administration field. Medical billing and coding is not the same field as the title suggests. They are separate areas of expertise. However, they are often fused together as they require some same basic skills. Billing and coding professionals is the people responsible for converting the patient information in alpha-numeric code. Then this code is send to the healthcare professionals and the insurance companies so that they can create an accurate and reliable billing and payment system.
Now days we are relying more and more on the information technology for storing and retrieving data faster and more efficiently. As a result, medical billing and storing has become one of the fastest growing job sectors in the whole healthcare industry. Currently there are more jobs available than there are qualified people. This shortage of qualified professionals has made the job outlook very positive. Moreover, medical billing and coding salary can be very high as this job requires specialized skill-set.
Medical billing and coding salary varies from place to place. People working in big cities such as New York, Texas, Seattle, and Las Vegas earn significantly higher salary than those who work in smaller towns and urban areas. The main reason behind this is the high cost of living and high minimum wage. As a result, the location plays a big role in deciding the medical billing and coding salary. Moreover, medical and billing professionals working in larger organizations like hospitals and nursing homes earn more compared to people who work in the billing department of a doctor’s private practice. In a large organization, they have more responsibilities and thus the salary difference.
No certificate or degree is needed to work in the field of medical billing and coding. However, most organizations and private practitioner hire people who have knowledge and experience in this particular field. As a result, people who have experience or some sort of professional degree get higher salary than others. Most people who have certificate work as billing and coding specialists and others work as assistants. According to a survey conducted by the American Academy of professional coders (AAPC), any non- certified coder earns about $30,000 per year and most certified coders earn $38,000 on average per year. This study has also shown that almost 18% of the medical billing and coding positions are still vacant due to the lack of skilled and experienced coders.
Experience is another factor that plays a big role in deciding the medical billing and coding salary. Experienced coders get more salary as they can get a lot of responsibilities without compromising the work quality. Experience is also needed as experienced coders do not have to look into a book for a specific code every time he is coding. Thus they are more productive. An experienced coder can get as much as $50,000 per year based on his or her experience.
Not every medical billing and coding professional works in big hospitals or doctor’s office. Sometimes they also work from home. They work as an independent contractor. They get paid on an hourly basis. As they work independently, they can take as many clients as they want. However, one of the downside is that the job is not secured. Generally, they charge $10 to $12 per hour. This is great compared to the other medical billing and coding salary as they can work from home.