Medical billing is a critical component of the healthcare system, relying on a team of individuals from across medical organizations and insurance companies. When patients are seen at a healthcare organization, they do not receive a typical bill or receipt like they would at a store. Instead, a specialized billing process that includes multiple departments.
While there are many paths to becoming a medical biller, one of the most prominent and frequently utilized is pairing professional certification with an Associate of Science in Healthcare Administration. While the professional certification provides the technical skillet for the role, the A.S. in Healthcare Administration offers a foundational underpinning for the role while offering a dynamic breakout of critical competencies graduates can use to elevate their career.
What is a Medical Biller?
Medical billers are certified administrative professionals who oversee the management and operations of medical bills and insurance claims for healthcare providers.
What does a Medical Biller do?
Medical billers serve as a vital connection between medical organizations and the insurance companies. They have many roles and responsibilities within the medical billing discipline which include compiling medical bills based on the work of medical coders, ensuring medical bills are accurate, submitting medical bills to insurance companies, and handling problematic claims.
Common responsibilities include:
- Building medical invoices for patients from filing codes
- Submitting medical claim documents to insurance companies
- Sending invoices to patients for outstanding balances
- Communicating with insurance companies to track payments and confirm patient coverage
- Investigating denied claims and outstanding patient invoices
Where do Medical Billers Work?
Medical billers can be found in most healthcare organizations. Since they work closely with providers and in many cases handle billing for a specific location or organization, they can commonly be found working on site at a specific physician office or clinic, or as part of a larger parent organization office. Since they focus primarily on the billing aspect their work environment primarily includes working on computers in an office.
Common work locations include:
- Hospitals
- Parent organization office locations
- Individual clinic or physical offices
- Long-term care centers or nursing care centers
- Ambulatory care centers
How to become a Medical Biller
There are many paths to becoming a medical biller. For many medical billers, the position is used as a launching point into the healthcare industry, thus it is important to not only gain experience, but also pursue additional education opportunities to advance the career. Medical billers can enter the field out of high school with certification and training and can also work in the field while earning an associate or bachelor’s degree. The pathway to becoming a medical biller includes:
- Earn a high school diploma or GED
- Enroll in an Associate or Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Administration
- Gain experience in the field
- Earn medical billing and coding certification
- Gain experience in the field
Medical Biller Career Path
For many medical billers, the position is used to leverage a career in healthcare finance, insurance claims, or other similar role. Furthermore, they can also be used for adjacent roles in administrative or clinical healthcare, with many organizations offering career development plans for employees. Medical billers specifically are expected to increase on pace or more than similar roles. Given the continuous need for medical billers and the vital role they play in ensuring hospitals and providers are paid for the services they render, it is a great position to break into entry-level healthcare.
Learn more about how an Associate of Science in Healthcare Administration can lead to or build upon a career in medical billing by visiting the healthcare administration page.
