Medical Billing is the Fastest Growing Opportunity in Health Care

On February 16, 2006 the Health Insurance PortabilityInsurance institutions and government agencies are
and Accountability Act was finalized, and enacted.investing huge resources to control claims' fraud,
This law is designed to establish national standardsabuse, and establish some degree of reimbursement
for all health care transactions, and to ensure theparity. As a result, more insurance companies, and
security and privacy of all health related information.health care facilities are looking to medical billing
The motivation behind this law is to improve theexperts for help. These companies and practices are
performance, and efficiency of our health carelooking for experienced and educated individuals; the
system. This type of reform has created a need forlegal consequences of incorrect billing could be
qualified individuals who can utilize the tools of thisdevastating. There is a movement in the industry to
legislation, and assure full compliance, and maximummake medical billers responsible for inaccuracies, much
reimbursement. It would therefore be a prudentthey way accountants are for tax returns.
move for health care facilities to employ suchAt present, there are no standards for educational
individuals in order to avoid mistakes that could haverequirements for medical billers and coders. However,
dire consequences.more employers are looking for some formal training
The proliferation of medical knowledge followingat an accredited career training institution. These
World War II brought about an explosion ofschools range in training time from nine months to
diagnostic, and treatment procedures. As a result,two years, anything less would not be considered
there became a need to organize, and standardize alladequate. There is a move for certification, and
these developing technologies. Here is where theseveral organizations are sponsoring certification
foundations of medical coding were born. Medicalexaminations in medical billing and coding. Medical billers
coding met these challenges, and allowed for a moreand coders earn as much as $8 to $10 per hour in
uniform way of communicating health informationthe beginning, and could potentially realize $30 to $40
under a common language. By January 1979,per hours with experience and additional
standardized definitions, and codes were adopted,responsibilities.
and used by health care providers, and insuranceToday, evolutions in the health care industry are
companies. Since improvements and refinements ofhappening at a very high pace. It is only with the
medical procedures are constantly being developed,assistance of sophisticated computer programs, and
codes must be added and updated to reflect thesestandardized coding procedures that medical coders
changes. Today, the number of medical and surgicalare now able to describe and characterize the
procedures have become enormous, so too have thetremendous number and various kinds of medical and
codes to describe them. These overwhelmingsurgical procedures. These realities coupled with
numbers of codes and protocols have madegovernment regulations, and health insurance
outsourcing medical billing the standard.guidelines have contributed to the strong demand for
Medical Billing and related occupations continue to beexperienced medical coders and billers.
the fastest growing opportunities in health care.