By Dorothy G Johnson
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6880621
The number of hours a medical biller and coder works is 40 hours per week. However, overtime may be needed to finish certain assignments. Depending on the health facilities you work with, you can work in the day, evening and night shifts. To become a medical biller and/or coder, you will need to have an associate's degree or bachelor's degree. You can have better opportunities if you have passed a certification exam, such as Registered Health Information Technicians (RHIT) certificate. As regards to the nature of work for this profession, you will be spending all your day assigning codes, entering information into a database, and filling insurance claims, among others.
Working condition for medical billers and coders
Medical billers/coders work in a typical office set-up where they work with computers, printers, and phones. As mentioned earlier, these professionals will have a 40-hour workweek. However, they also work extra hours when needed. Additional pay is applied for extra hours. To know about work schedule options, you should verify them with your prospective employer before working as a medical biller and/or coder.
There are different jobs and responsibilities of medical billing/coding professionals. They may need to interact with patients who are sick and contagious.
Traits or skills required for medical biller/coder
In order to succeed in this field, you must possess the following skills:
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Excellent computer software knowledge
• Ability to work with the cutting edge technology for medical billing/coding
As regards to traits, you should have a keen eye for details. This is to prevent entering incorrect information of a patient that can affect patient's health.
You should also develop the ability to have an attention to detail because it could lead to exorbitant bill for patient or lost revenue for the insurance company and the medical facility.
Being task-oriented is also essential when working as a medical biller. This trait will enable you to work alone with total focus while completing projects the soonest possible time without affecting accuracy.
Multi-tasking skills are also important. The reason for this is that medical coder has to deal with large amount of data from different sources and take care of the billing concerns of different patients.
You should also have organizational skills to keep the medical facility running smoothly and well-organized.
Training
Certain education training program is important if you want to work as a medical biller and coder. In this way, you can read and understand the contents of a patient's record. When you seek out a program for this profession, make sure that it includes the following topics:
• Basic math
• Medical terminology
• Medical billing software
• Medical documentation evaluation
• Administrative duties
You can obtain education training program for medical billing and coding from community colleges or universities. For your convenience, you may also enroll in one of the online schools that offer medical billing/coding education training programs.
Thinking about a career in the healthcare industry? Learn about the salary, the medical billing training, and the traits you need to succeed in this in demand career field. Find out more from medical billing and coding schools.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dorothy_G_Johnson
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6880621