Medical Billing & Coding Definition
Medical billing and medical coding are essential components to the operations of a hospital, doctor's office or any medical facility. They are part of the records and financial department, which keeps records of all patients, of procedures and takes care of billing and insurance records.
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Types
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Medical coding is a process in which descriptions of billable medical procedures from doctors and nurses taken in reports and notes are transformed into a medical code, used universally by billing and insurance departments.
Types
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Medical billing takes the codes from the medical coding department and organizes the information, figures out the financial costs for each code and then places them on a bill for the patient and insurance companies.
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Considerations
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One must have special training in order to become part of a medical billing or medical coding department as a career, and training is usually obtained through community colleges, technical schools or distance learning.
Considerations
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Within the careers of medical billing and medical coding, one could specialize in different medical departments, such as working in a hospital versus working in a family doctor's office, or working in a cancer treatment hospital versus working in a children's hospital.
Benefits
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Medical billing specialists and medical coding specialists can earn an average of around $30,000 a year and some may earn as much as $40,000 a year, as well as some opting to work from home, or on a partial telecommute basis.
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