Does a Billing & Coding Career or a Medical Transcription Career Offer Better Pay?

Coders and transcriptionists in the medical field earn similar salaries.

A career in medical billing and coding is quite different from one in medical transcription. Medical coders are responsible for maintaining all paperwork, including exam results, billing information and insurance data, on patients. They also assign codes to diagnoses that help determine how much a patient will be reimbursed for treatment. Medical transcriptionists listen to recordings dictated by physicians and transcribe them into reports and administrative material. Coders and transcriptionists earn similar wages, although various industries and locations favor one over the other.

Billing and Coding Pay

Workers in medical billing and coding are classified as medical records and health information technicians, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These workers earned an annual mean wage of $33,880 as of May 2009. Those in the 10th percentile earned $20,850, while those in the 90th percentile earned $51,510.

Medical Transcription Pay

Medical transcriptionists in the United States earned a mean annual wage of $33,350 as of May 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics; an overall average just barely lower than workers in billing and coding. Those in the 10th percentile earned $22,430, which is higher than those in that percentile in billing and coding careers. Those in the 90th percentile earned $45,700 on average, which is lower than those in billing and coding careers.

Industry

Both medical coders and transcriptionists are most frequently employed by general medical and surgical hospitals, an industry which pays those in billing and coding $35,870 and medical transcriptionists $34,480. The offices of physicians is the number two industry, offering billing and coding workers $28,460 and transcriptionists more at $32,410. The highest paying industry for those with a career in billing and coding is that of pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing at an annual mean wage of $61,210. The highest paying industry for transcriptionists, medical and diagnostic laboratories, is significantly less at $38,680, meaning greater opportunities exist for higher pay in a career in billing and coding.

Location

The cost of living and demand for workers will affect pay for both types of careers. For those with a career in billing and coding, New Jersey is the top-paying state at an annual mean wage of $45,750, followed by Hawaii at $41,340;the District of Columbia is next at $41,290. For medical transcriptionists, Massachusetts is the state with the highest wages at an average of $42,880, followed by Alaska at $42,640 and California at $41,100.

References

• Bureau of Labor Statistics: Medical Records and Health Information Technicians, 2010-11
• Bureau of Labor Statistics: Medical Records and Health Information Technicians, May 2009
• Bureau of Labor Statistics: Medical Transcriptionists, 2010-11
• Bureau of Labor Statistics: Medical Transcriptionists Wages, 2010-11