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Medical Billing Certification - tts

Posted: Nov 09, 2010

In looking for a change - does anyone know of a Medical Billing Certification class you can take on line.

Since, being gone from MQ I was able to get a job as an ROI Specialist, but I found out medical billers - make pretty good money.

Yes coders even more. But for me I just think I want the medical billing certification.

I was curous about this myself and - exasperated

[ In Reply To ..]
asked a medical biller I knew about schooling. She told me that employers prefer an accredited university and that you take 2-4 years before they will hire you. ouch. They do make good money, but I don't know if I want to go back to school yet again. Good luck.

seems odd to me - see message

[ In Reply To ..]
From what I know, billing is less well paid than coders and coders don't normally need 2-4 years at a university so I cannot see why billers would need even more education than coders. You might look around online for billing positions and see what they require. One site I like is indeed.com as you can put in any job title and any city, just to see what is out there. You can put in cities other than your own, just to see what it's like in other places. I'm taking a coding/billing course but the focus is more on the coding part. There may be some good courses out there that just teach billing but beware of the ones who say you can make $50,000 a year working from home after taking their $500 six-week class.

Yes, it's odd to me, too. - Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
When you hear statements like that, you have to consider that they might not be clear about what you are asking, and they might not be clear about the information they are providing. Most people don't know much about the industry as a whole.

Billing pays somewhat to a lot less than coding. While there are some classroom billing programs, they are mostly at career colleges.

Be careful when people tell you about accredited programs. This can mean several different things in this industry. Few people are clear about this. A career college (for-profit, mostly diploma mills) can be accredited, but they have their own organization accredit them because the one that accredits regular academic colleges and universities doesn't touch for-profits. Career colleges specialize in career training like medical assisting and billing, auto mechanics, computer repair, etc.

There is also an accreditation offered by AHIMA for health information technology and health information management. Those are 2 and 4 year programs, respectively, formerly offered only by community colleges and academic universities, but now some for-profits are getting into the business as well. You absolutely do not need one of those degrees for billing and those programs have little to do with it.

Some health information technology programs also offer about half their HIT program as a coding "certificate" course. Those can be, but aren't always, "approved" by AHIMA. The certificate just says you finished it, but is not a "certification" in coding.

To get a certification in coding, like the CCS, CCS-P, CPC, CPC-H, or CPC-P, you have to take and pass examinations offered by one of two national organizations. Neither of these require completion of any particular course, or any course at all.

Coding training of varying lengths and quality is also offered by the two national organizations and online schools. They issue a certificate of completion. There are some excellent programs offered by all of them, as well as some that are ok. Some do a good job of preparing students for certification exams and others do not. Some aim low at the CCA exam, some focus on the CPC, and some aim directly for the CPC and the CCS.

As for employers preferring graduates of 2-4 year accredited programs, that's not entirely accurate. Some employers might prefer that, but they are VERY few and far between. It would be foolish to prefer that, because it is no guarantee of job success. It does't demonstrate thorough knowledge of coding, either.

A better predictor of job success is a coding certification, so that is what most employers prefer. Many prefer it enough to insist on it. In the ambulatory care arena, it is almost a must because it is evidence of an organization's intent to be compliant with federal regulations regarding coding and reimbursement.

If you don't read well, then billing would be an appropriate option for you. You're an MT, though, so you would have the literacy skills required to do well in coding.

As another poster pointed out, be careful that you are not hearing about billing scams. You cannot make oodles from medical billing; it is NOT a good work-at-home opportunity (it is terrible); someone's special and very expensive software program will not enable you to billing; and doctors are not, in fact, desperate for billers.

What the industry is desperate for is coders, so if you're looking for something to do, that's an excellent option. See the salary surveys on the aapc.org website.

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