Medical billing is the practice of submitting medical claims to the insurance companies that pay doctors and other health care providers for the services they provide patients. The process also involves medical coding, which assigns universal code numbers to all known medical conditions, diagnoses and procedures. Medical coding ensures that each condition and treatment appearing in a patient's medical records is universally understandable to any doctor or insurance comany representative in the country.
Without medical billing and coding professionals, the health care industry would not be able to function smoothly. Explore the links below to learn more about the different careers in this complex field.
Medical billing professionals held over 150,000 jobs in 2007, according to the US Labor Bureau. Over 50% of them worked in doctors' offices, while most of the rest were employed by hospitals and other health care practitioners.
Medical coders provide the necessary translation of patients' medical conditions and doctors' treatments into a universal medical coding language.
Medical billers are one half of a complex system that comprises the communication structure between health care providers and insurance carriers.