Medical Billing Specialist

Medical billing specialists are office workers in hospitals, clinics or physicians’ offices who typically perform the clinic or physician’s billing. Medical billing and coding is becoming more and more important to the health service industry. As healthcare costs rise and people expect better health procedures, the insurance industry and government want to be certain that they are paying fairly.

Medical billing is performed from hospital or clinic premises, doctor’s offices, nursing homes and pharmacies, and can even be done at home. In fact, medical billing specialists are often self-employed.

Medical billing specialists need computer skills, good manual dexterity and visual acuity, attention to detail, all around solid communication skills, strong ethical and confidentiality standards due to the sensitive nature of their work, and good organizational skills.

Education and Credentials Required
While most physicians require a high school diploma of their medical billing specialists, most employers would like the candidate to have some formal training in medical billing and basic anatomy and medical terms. This can be gotten through vocational/technical high schools, one-year postsecondary certificate programs, and two year associates degree programs.

Future Prospects
Employment opportunities for medical billing specialists are expected to increase much faster than the national average. In fact, it will be one of the fastest-growing occupations at least through 2012. Job growth will be stimulated by the expansion of the health care industry. Job prospects are significantly better for people with formal education and/or training, certification, and experience.

Salary Range
The median hourly rate for medical billing specialists varies from $1 to $40, depending on qualifications and experience. Self-employed medical billing specialists can expect to earn significantly more than salaried medical billing specialists. Experience, location, skill, reputation, hours worked and other factors impact income. Medical billing specialists may pay for their own health benefits and retirement benefits, if they are either self-employed or temporary workers.