Medical Billing and Coding Jobs
The fields of medical records and health information technology provide skilled professionals with exciting career opportunities in hospitals, physicians’ offices, retirement homes, and government facilities. Those who wish to work in the medical billing and coding fields generally need to complete a postsecondary certificate or associate program.
Job Duties
According to the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC), billers work primarily with patients and insurance companies on claims submissions. Billers often perform more customer-service oriented tasks than coders. Medical coders generally work with healthcare professionals to accurately categorize the services and products provided to patients. The following tables detail the differing career tasks and trajectories of billers and coders.
| Medical Billing | Medical Coding |
|---|---|
| Entering data with proprietary billing software | Communicating with physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to categorize the services a patient has received |
| Submitting claims to insurance companies | Applying CPT, HCPCS, and ICD-10 CM standardized codes to patient records to accurately reflect the services received |
| Following up with patients, healthcare professionals, and insurance providers to make sure claims are paid for | Entering data through Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Electronic Medical Record (EMR) software used in hospitals and physicians’ offices |
| Managing account payments and invoices | Examining operative reports used during surgery to apply procedure codes |
| Investigating rejected or denied claims | Performing medical chart audits when a claim is denied |
| Ensuring that physicians and patients receive reimbursements from insurers | Remaining up-to-date with the latest revisions to coding standards and federal regulations |
| Verifying the accuracy of standard healthcare codes used by medical coders to classify services and products | Examining patient charts and histories to ensure coding accurately reflects a patient’s medical care |
Salary Information
Prospective medical billers and coders will find that their job outlook is very promising. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that medical record and health information jobs are due to increase by 13% in the years between 2016 and 2026, which is higher than the national average for other career choices.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases national salary averages for medical billers and coders under the umbrella category of “Medical Records and Health Information Technicians.” The following salary tables are from the BLS data encompassing both billing and coding professionals:
| Industry | Employment |
|---|---|
| Professional, scientific, and technical services | $41,600 |
| Hospitals; state, local, and private | $40,510 |
| Administrative and support services | $38,540 |
| Nursing Care Facilities | $35,910 |
| Offices of physicians | $33,030 |
| State | Annual Mean Wage |
|---|---|
| New Jersey | $60,000 |
| Alaska | $56,920 |
| California | $48,840 |
| Maryland | $48,730 |
| Colorado | $48,730 |
Additional Careers of Interest
Prospective billers and coders might also be interested in exploring other career options with similar salaries, educational requirements, and work environments. Medical billing and coding can be an excellent starting point for those who wish to explore alternative clinical or health administration options. The following career profiles are either alternatives or complementary fields to the medical records and health information technician fields.
| Medical Assistant | Medical Transcriptionist | Medical and Health Services Managers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education and Experience Requirements | Postsecondary certificate or professional diploma | Postsecondary certificate or professional diploma | Bachelor’s degree with previous experience in healthcare |
| Work Environments | Physicians’ offices and clinics | Hospitals, physicians’ offices, and medical administration offices | Hospitals, nursing homes, and government facilities |
| Duties | Appointment scheduling, updating medical records, collecting lab test materials, medical exam assistance, administering medication with physician supervision | Accurately transcribe the dictation of healthcare professionals, edit transcriptions, enter patient data in EHRs / EMRs | Oversee health care administration employees, staff scheduling, department and institution financial management, and daily patient care supervision |
| Mean Annual Wage | $31,540 | $35,720 | $96,540 |
Medical Billing and Coding Job Sites
While there is an abundance of job listings for medical billers and coders, newly-certified professionals might have a difficult time finding positions that meet their location, compensation, and scheduling needs. Luckily, there are dozens of job boards that aggregate listings for healthcare jobs. Several of these sites are dedicated to medical billers and coders who have obtained their credentials. These online resources can help you find roles that match your professional needs.
- American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Job Search: This professional networking organization has a membership of over 71,000 health information management employees, and lists hundreds of global career opportunities on its job board.
- American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) Jobs: This national certification agency issues industry-standard credentials, such as the Certified Professional Coder (CPC) and Certified Professional Biller (CPB). Job seekers can explore the national AAPC job listings based on specialty and location.
- American Medical Billing Association (AMBA) Job Board: This professional networking organization gives job seekers multiple ways to connect with recruiters, including job listings, an anonymous resume pool, and personalized job email notifications.
- Association of Home Care Coders (AHCC) Career Center: This professional certification agency offers a specialized credential for professionals working in the home care industry. The job board features dozens of available positions across the U.S., and job seekers can opt in to receive customized email job alerts.
- Contexto Media: Contexto has a number of continuing education product lines, including coding reference sheets and training textbooks. The job board highlights hundreds of national job opportunities with the option of email notifications.
- SuperCoder: Medical coders seeking jobs can find national career listings on this site and filter results based on company, city, job type, and title.
- Healthcare Billing and Management Association (HBMA Job Search): HBMA provides many membership incentives, including annual conferences and continued career training. Their national job board can be searched based on location or job title.
- Medical Billers and Coders: This referral service connects physicians with billers and coders across multiple specializations. Unlike the professional organizations mentioned earlier, this job board can only be accessed by enrolled members.
- Precyse: This staffing and talent sourcing company connects hospitals with health information management professionals. Job listings can be filtered based on location, job specialization, and keywords.
- Oregon Health Information Management Association (OrHIMA) Job Postings: While the OrHIMA professional organization focuses the majority of its efforts on members based in Oregon, the job board highlights opportunities posted by staffing agencies recruiting talent across states in the Pacific Northwest.
- Nevada Health Information Management Association (NVHIMA) Job Board: This Nevada-based professional organization hosts a number of continuing education opportunities, such as coding roundtables and on-demand streaming webinars. Like the OrHIMA board, job seekers can use the site’s listings as a way to find staffing agencies in need of employees in Nevada and other southwestern states.
- Texas Health Information Management Association (TXHIMA): This branch of AHIMA lists jobs exclusively in Texas, highlighting careers at local hospitals and insurance companies. Due to the state’s size, 17 districts are organized into four TXHIMA regions, each with it’s own regional director.
- Indiana Health Information Management Association (IHIMA): This AHIMA branch has a membership of over 2,000 professionals. The job board highlights career opportunities based exclusively in the state of Indiana.
- Wyoming Health Information Management Association (WYHIMA) Job Board: The Wyoming branch of AHIMA issues monthly professional newsletters highlighting local and national industry updates. Their job board features career opportunities posted by staffing agencies like LexiCode, which sources talent across the Midwest.
Healthcare Career Sites
- Biohealthmatics: This professional networking site is dedicated to the healthcare IT and biotechnology industries. The job listings can be filtered based on categories like medical records, informatics, coding, and billing.
- Advance Healthcare Network: Healthcare professionals can explore hundreds of national career listings, filtering their search based on employer, location, and job title. Those who create a free user account can upload their resume to a recruiter database and get personalized job email alerts.
- Healthcare Jobs: This resume database and career listing service showcases national job opportunities across multiple health industries, including nursing, social services, medical information, and therapy.
- Health Jobs Start Here: This site connects healthcare students and professionals with national scholarships, internships, and career opportunities. Job seekers can use a unique questionnaire, which assesses personality and work environment preferences to match candidates with potential employers.
- Staffpointe: This staffing and recruitment agency posts a wide variety of national healthcare job listings, highlighting the salaries and benefits of each opportunity.
- HealthJobs Nationwide: Over 90,000 medical organizations have posted career listings through this online recruiting network. Job seekers can filter listings by job category, keywords, and location.
- Medical Workers: Physicians, Allied Health workers, and nurses can use this career database to identify employment opportunities, which can be filtered by location, skill keywords, and job categories.
- Health Career Web: This resource is comprised of job listings and informative blog posts that cover the nursing, physician, medical administration, and Allied Health industries. Prospective employees can search for careers based on job category, keywords, and location.
- Hospital Recruiting: This national job board encompasses a wide range of health care fields, including dentistry, pathology, family practice, and administration. Job seekers can create a free profile to save listings, set up email alerts, and search for opportunities based on specialization and location.
- AMT Staffing: This staffing agency works with a wide range of healthcare clients, including government agencies, hospitals, hospice care facilities, and medical labs. The listings featured are largely based in Alabama.
- HIP Jobs: Health information professionals can find hundreds of career listings for national opportunities in specializations such as compliance, auditing, coding, and electronic medical records.
- HEALTHeCAREERS: This healthcare network provides candidates and employers with a variety of career resources, such as blog posts, newsletters, and event listings. Listings can be narrowed down by specialty, location, and keywords.
- CareerVitals: This online career counseling resource helps healthcare job seekers craft competitive cover letters, resumes, and online portfolios. They also host a national job database, which can be filtered by location, job title, employer, and keyword.
- Miracle Workers: This staffing and recruitment database is dedicated to healthcare specializations like nursing, therapy, medical administration, and medical imaging. Job seekers can create user profiles to receive recommended job listings or manually search the database via location and job category filters.
General Job Sites
- CareerBuilder: This extensive career database is owned by the national media giant Gannett and attracts over 24 million visitors each month. Users can post their resumes, save in-progress applications, and search for opportunities based on location and keywords.
- Indeed: This site’s saved search histories help candidates keep track of the keyword combinations and filters used throughout their job hunt. Indeed showcases global work opportunities, receiving over 140 million visitors each month.
- Monster: This popular job database began its international online recruiting efforts in 1994. Candidates can use the site or it’s app to upload a resume, save job searches, and apply for career opportunities.
- LinkedIn: This professional social networking platform can double as a digital resume and portfolio. It is popular enough that many companies accept LinkedIn profile data during the application process.
- PayScale: Job seekers can get a big-picture idea of industry pay rates and search for roles that fall within a user-defined compensation range.
- Simply Hired: This job listing company showcases opportunities from over 228,000 U.S. employers. Simply Hired hosts a highly-detailed advanced job search feature, allowing candidates to sort through listings based on location, experience level, job type, recruitment companies, and education level.
- KForce: This staffing agency recruits professionals in the finance, healthcare, government, and technology sectors. KForce has offices in over 60 U.S. locations, so job seekers can meet with staffing professionals in-person to discuss opportunities.
- Government Jobs: Local, state, and federal employers often rely on this job database and application tool to recruit public sector employees. Users can complete job searches, apply for jobs, and track application progress through this one system.
Best Employers for Medical Billing and Coding
- CoreMedical Group: This staffing agency has received an average employee rating of 4 out of 5 stars on Indeed.com. The agency specializes in connecting healthcare professionals nationwide with permanent, contract, or travel-based work.
- PrideStaff: Pridestaff matches candidates with employers across multiple industries, including customer service, healthcare, and finance. In 2014, this major national recruitment agency earned the Inavero Best of Staffing Diamond Award for achieving the highest client and talent service quality scores for five consecutive years.
- IMS Health/Appature: Appature, a healthcare software company, often recruits client service representatives with medical billing and coding expertise. The company was acquired by IMS Health in 2013 and is one of the largest and most successful firms of its kind.
- Emerus: This Texas-based emergency health services company performs 24/7 inpatient assistance for two hospitals in the Houston area.
- XIFIN: This San Diego-based medical software company provides healthcare organizations with billing and business intelligence services and solutions. They specialize in cloud technology and provide a comprehensive digital consultation forum for its clients.
- Med-Care Diabetic and Medical Supplies: This pharmacy and medical supply retailer operates as a provider for Medicare and Medicaid, necessitating employees who are familiar with the unique billing and coding requirements of these plans.
- Kareo: This California-based medical software company provides over 20,000 healthcare organizations with electronic health record and billing services. They offer cloud-based solutions, ICD-10 transition systems and practice management resources.