Drowning in Drowning in medical coding salary data.
It’s easy to find yourself drowning in data while looking for information online.
Codingandbillingsalary.com is a comprehensive resource that has been created to provide you with research and information about medical billing and coding salary. My goal is to deliver reliable wage data over many different geographical regions of the United States, including Puerto Rico and Guam.
This day and age, it is true that this information is available to anyone on the Internet. But in my search, it proved more difficult to find than it would seem on the surface. Once I finally found what I was looking for, it took a while to digest and process what I was looking at.
So I decided to create an easy to read (and navigate) resource for anyone else who may be looking for this information also, as this is a career in high demand. And the demand only grows stronger each day.
Medical coding and billing is a career that is growing as each year passes. The medical field in general is on the rise as the population ages. Combine the influx of these medical records with increasing use of electronic filing systems; the need for qualified people who can handle and process these digital records is more significant than ever.
The BLS expects that almost 40,000 health information technician jobs will open up by 2020. Specializing in certain areas could prove to be fruitful, because the BLS also predicts that cancer registrars (medical coders who specialize in cancer records) are going to be in especially high demand during this same time frame.
As a medical coder, you will have to review these records and assign codes to the procedures that were performed so the hospital or clinic (or wherever) can bill the insurance company and other payers, as well as the patient when necessary.
You will have a variety of workplace options:
- Hospitals
- Clinics
- Physician practices
- Dentist offices
- Nursing homes
- Mental health facilities
- Home health care agencies
- Pharmaceutical companies
It doesn’t end there either. You could work directly for an insurance company, at a designated billing and coding service or a government agency.
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The industry you choose will play a big part in the way your career shapes up financially. For example, General hospitals paid an average (yearly) of about $1,350 less than Specialty hospitals.
Scientific research and development firms pay over $10,000 more (yearly) than entry level and pharmaceutical companies top the field with an average salary of $66,060. You can get all medical billing and coding salary numbers here.
Employment in these research and pharmacy fields may be a bit elusive, as they tend to have few coders on staff. Keep your eye out though, because if you stumble across one it will most certainly be worth it.
You may have noticed that I forgot to say you could work from home and start making money tomorrow. This is because it really is not true. Most of the “from home” propositions you hear about in this field are scams.
There certainly are some real ones out there, but you can reasonably expect to put a few years (at least) into a brick and mortar establishment before being able to chase a work from home opportunity. If you create a medical business to run from your home you will
There are many factors that will cause your salary to rise. You can click on this picture to see a few.
need to not only learn the coding job skills, but also how to acquire and maintain clients.
Many coding professionals have increased their earnings and overall strengthened their career by obtaining college degrees and specialized certifications, but neither is required. As in any field though, a higher level of education is going to increase your earnings.
You should most definitely take the time to obtain certification as a Certified Professional Coder (CPC®). You will be in more high demand for a position because the employer will be sure you are able to perform the job proficiently at the required level.
There is a tremendous amount of dedication that will be required if you choose to become a medical biller. As part of the abstracting information from the health care providers documentation, you should be thoroughly familiar with anatomy and even medical terminology.
On top of that you should learn about the different types of insurance plans, regulation and compliance issues. You will also, obviously, have to learn the codes as well.
Once you have mastered the science behind the position, workers generally work more than 40 hours a week in this profession. Almost 3/4 of the people actually.
The great news about this is that medical coding professionals experience unemployment at a rate around 1.5%, while the national unemployment average sits at a whopping 7.5%!
Along with education and specialized credentials, experience can play a big part in a larger salary as well. People who have been on the job for 15 years earn almost $20,000 more than those freshly starting. (They represent the 90% in the Percentile Wage Estimates Table).
If you can expand into other positions as well you stand to make an extra $15,000 average.
Examples would be auditing, management or education. They are related fields, you just have to assume some extra responsibilities if you are looking to earn a higher salary.
I should also mention that the state or region you work in plays a big role in your salary too. It seems that the Northeast and Western areas pay the most while the Southeast and Midwest pay the least.
Sometimes, asking for a raise will simply be the most effective way to obtain the salary you desire in the region you want to be.
There is no doubt that others will be seeking out information about this valuable field. I am glad to be able to provide it and I hope you find it useful.
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