What about Medical Billing/Coding

Hopeforthebest

I wanted to thank the posters that responded to my questions regarding the Pharmacy Tech program I was looking into.

I'm now looking more at the medical billing/coding program and if any of you have information on pay scale, pros or cons to this line of work I'd love to hear it all. I looked online in this area and see lots of job postings but they withhold pay scale information it looks like until you interview.

I have worked in a medical office before doing transcription and am working on getting in touch with my contacts there to hear about that particular office's pay rates.

Thank you so much!

bunnyfriend5

I used to be a biller and also used to interview medical billers at a past job. We would typically have one position and get a hundred resumes from people right out of trade school that all were the exact same. I interviewed people that had been looking for work for 6 months to a year out of school, which isn't that extremely different than other fields. We started people at 12/hr and it would top out at 16/hr, but I'm sure bigger clinics would pay a little better. I think certified coders are in the $15 to $20/hr range. 

I haven't heard of a lot of billers who work up to management, but I think that may be because the field has a lot of people that tend to be less interested in advancement. I do know of people who do other things in the healthcare field like IT or management that then became certified in codding to add that to their resume. 

We had high turn over in those jobs, which I thought was because the job can be kind of boring. There is way more potential to work from home though. 

CaffeineDealer

I'm currently working on my degree in medical billing and coding and healthcare management. Honestly, I find the work pretty facinating because I get to read a snipet of a job that a doctor or nurse got work on without having to deal with the blood and guts. I am personally am struggling to find a position; most positions that I'm finding open are for more experienced coders (coder II and III or manager) or for hospitals looking for teams to usher in the new ICD 10 coding system. Hope this helps a little.

bunnyfriend5

Also, since you already have a medical background you could try applying for billing jobs now without going to school. I know of lots of people that learned billing on the job or who had a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field.

samaraanderson

I think medical billers and coders make an average of $10.26 to $22.06 in hourly wages. This is according to the data available on payscale.com. As for some of the pros and cons of the profession, I think the biggest advantage is that its educational requirements are not extensive. You can get a break as a medical coder/biller after completing a vocational training program in the field. Another advantage you have with the profession is the flexibility to telecommute. One of the disadvantages of this career is the long work hours that you may need to keep at times.