Medical Reimbursement and Coding: Career Overview

It is not about billing customers.

That is what professors in Bryant & Stratton’s Medical Reimbursement and Coding degree program say many new students think of when they think medical coding.

Medical reimbursement and coding are important processes in the healthcare billing cycle. Medical coding involves transforming billable medical care provided to a patient into medical reimbursement codes that insurance companies can accurately pay each claim. But crunching numbers is not how graduates in this field will spend their days.

Medical Coding and Billing Job Description

Reimbursement and coding specialists immerse themselves in understanding biology, physiology, anatomy, and medical terminology. They have to understand how the body works, what diagnosis is linked to that body part and then learn to correctly code those using the appropriate medical reimbursement codes so that insurance companies can accurately pay each claim.

People often ask if medical billing and coding is hard to learn. In most cases, students in a medical reimbursement and coding associate program are able to learn the basic concepts quickly and easily as long as they put in the effort. Students will pick one of two tracks to study: hospital (inpatient) or physician’s office (outpatient) that reflect the two areas of concentration for most medical records and health information technicians.

Once the claims are coded, the billing side of the operation submits the claims. Depending on the size of the employer, there may be a separate department for each step in the process, meaning employees may only code or only bill. In a smaller physician’s office, a much smaller staff may be tasked with the entire process.

This field also offers a huge ability to work from home and potentially work for yourself, completing coding assignments for different physicians. However, that requires experience and becoming well-known in the healthcare industry

Job Outlook for Medical Coders in Billers

Basic facts for Medical Records and Health Information Technicians, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (for 2020, the last available data): Median Salary: