The demand for medical billing office workers including medical office specialists, medical coders, and medical billers is growing by leaps and bounds due to the Affordable Care Act that is in the process of full implementation at this time. The current people employed today cannot possibly handle the 20 million new patients accessing the health care system due to the ACA, and many facilities are frantically hiring medical office personnel to meet the demand. This means that more and more jobs are available for medical billers, medical coders, and other medical office administrative staff. The advent of the ACA is a major factor in the high growth percent rate for medical administrative personnel anticipated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics through 2020. The demand created in the healthcare industry for more staff means more “highly-trained” staff. So, training for a career in this field can net a very lucrative job offer.
Big Demand for Medical Billing Office Workers
The duties of medical office staff include patient registration, confirming appointments, as well as updating patient records and insurance databases, medical billing functions, medical coding functions. In many cases, administrative personnel also receive co-pays from patients, verify patient insurance and work with medical billers to file insurance claims.
You can get the education you need to become a medical office worker online. Medical billing courses take about 8 to 12 weeks to complete online. Certification can be granted through the AAPC for medical billers. Online training is great for busy adult learners who have full-time jobs, children, spouses, etc. One can train in a self-paced manner at their convenience.
Your training program will include instruction in basic business practices and office procedures, as well as lots of practice in creating and maintaining a variety of electronic health records. Knowledge of EHR systems is going to be increasingly important for all medical professionals in the next few years, but medical office specialists in particular need to be familiar with EHR systems.
By: Dawn Moreno, PhD, CBCS, CMAA, MTC. Lives in the beautiful Southwest United States and has been an instructor for medical coding/billing for the past 7 years. Interested in quality medical billing training?
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