Due to the increased digitalization of medical record keeping, medical billing and coding professionals are a group of individuals who can often arrange to work from home after working in an office setting for a long period of time. Once medical and coding professionals impress the employer, they may have the ability to work from home. The following are the steps to becoming a work-at-home medical billing and coding technician.
Step 1: Get a Diploma in Medical Billing and Coding
Hunter Business School offers a Medical Billing Specialist diploma program at its Long Island campuses. During this Medical Billing Specialist program, billing and coding students gain knowledge of complex medical terms and acquire an understanding of body systems, such as: cardiovascular, muscular, skeletal, integumentary, reproductive, urinary, nervous, respiratory, digestive, endocrine, and lymphatic.
Medical billing and coding students also develop an understanding of the structure, format, and conventions used in ICD-10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems), CPT-4 (Current Procedure Terminology), and HCPCS (Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System).
Step 2: Get Certified in Medical Billing and Coding
Hunter Business School’s Medical Billing Specialist diploma program prepares you to take a certification exam to become certified in medical billing and coding. The main association that offers certification in medical billing is the AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders). The AAPC offers 32 certifications including the Professional Billing Certification (CPB).
Step 3: Gain Seniority
Most hospitals and doctor’s offices will expect some on-the-job experience whether it is from scheduling or office work at a medical facility. Once medical billing and coding professionals have worked at a hospital or doctor’s office for a long period of time and built up a good reputation they may be allowed to work autonomously from home.
Step 4: Work from Home
Many employers are willing to offer work-at-home positions for hard working and long-term employees. Once you show that you can do a good job with limited oversight, employers may be willing to allow you to work from home. If they do not, many other employers will. You may consider changing jobs with your newly gained experience to an employer who will allow you to work from home.
What Does a Medical Billing and Coding Technician Do?
Medical billing and coding technicians organize and manage health information data by ensuring that maintaining quality, accuracy, accessibility, and security in both paper files and electronic systems. The medical billing and coding technician uses various classification systems to code and categorize patient information for insurance reimbursement purposes, for databases and registries, and to maintain patients’ medical and treatment histories.
Medical Billing and Coding Technicians typically do the following:
- Review patients’ records for timeliness, completeness, accuracy, and appropriateness of data
- Organize and maintain data for clinical databases and registries
- Track patient outcomes for quality assessment
- Use classification software to assign clinical codes for reimbursement and data analysis
- Electronically record data for collection, storage, analysis, retrieval, and reporting
- Maintain confidentiality of patients’ records
Are you considering a career in medical billing and coding and want to work from home?The Hunter Business School Medical Billing Specialist program will prepare you to become a medical billing specialist and provide you with the first step to becoming a work-at-home medical billing and coding technician. Learn more now.
References
American Academy of Professional Coders
How to Work from Home Doing Medical Billing and Coding
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics