What Is Medical Billing and Coding?

When a patient has any medical exam or procedure, the medical office will work with the patient and the patient's insurance company for claims. The biller will submit and follow up on any claims in order to receive payment for services rendered by the health care provider. This usually involves learning many codes, each one representing a symptom, medications and diagnoses, in order to process the claim properly. For this reason, it is necessary for medical billing and coding professionals to receive training and preparation they need to be successful on the job.

Medical billing and coding workers are the health care professionals in charge of processing patient data such as treatment records and related insurance information. Medical insurance billers and coders are tasked with coding a patient's diagnosis along with a request for payments from the patient's insurance company.

The health care industry depends on skilled, qualified medical insurance billers and coders to accurately record, register and track of each patient's account. Medical billing and medical coding are actually two distinct jobs. So we'll discuss each separately.

Medical billers are really in charge of making sure everyone is being billed correctly. Some of this involves talking with patients and/or health insurance companies on a regular basis to make sure all invoices are paid on time. The biller should understand coding language and how to read medical invoices. This is perfect for someone who wants to have a balance of working with people (on the phone) and also spending time assessing invoices and data.

Medical coders, on the other hand, really don't have too much interaction with insurance companies and patients. This job is perfect for someone who would prefer to spend time assessing and coding data. Every duty performed in a medical office has a particular code assigned to it and it needs to be coded properly in order for proper billing. The medical coder and biller often work together to make sure all invoices are paid properly.

Some smaller medical offices might have one employee handle both job functions, but many times these jobs are outsourced to a medical billing service that can handle both jobs.