In a diminishing market, coding seems to be a way out!
Affordable Care Act has increased work pressure for physicians but it has also created various new job opportunities for medical coders. As millions of new patients will be entering the US healthcare industry this year, practices will be ne;eding skilled coders to sail through billing challenges and ensure timely payments for rendered services. With the rise in demand, medical coding has turned into one of the fastest growing professions in the country.
Industry facts
| Approximately 40 million new patients will be entering the US healthcare market due to Affordable Care Act and this will increase the need for coding millions of new charts every year |
| With the implementation of ICD-10, it will take approximately 30 minutes for a coder to code an inpatient chart |
| It has been estimated by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that employment for coders will be growing faster than average, increasing by 16% by 2016 |
Why practices are in dire need of skilled coders?
In last few years, medical billing and coding has become extremely complex due to new changes and regulations, such as:
- ICD-9-CM will be getting replaced by ICD-10 in 2015. This will require an upgrade in transaction standards to version 5010 for which, qualified coders will be in high demand as they will play an important role in deciphering and assigning accurate codes
- Medical practices offering treatment to Medicare patients will have to gear up for new code changes. This will be essential for maintaining stability in the cash flow. In order to keep up with the new trends in cost reimbursement, experienced coders will be in high demand
- Hospital billing structure will be changed due to the Accountable Care Organization model. This will increase number of patients and fuel the demand for coders to align the entire procedure
Perks of being a medical coder in this diminishing market:
Healthcare reforms have increased workload on practices. Providers are finding it difficult to balance patient care, billing, coding, documentation and various other administrative tasks. To make sure that current market conditions don’t result in delayed or denied payments, practices are constantly looking for experienced and certified medical coders.
- They have to interact with patients on a limited basis and mostly communicate with doctors and health care professional regarding work
- As far as work settings are concerned, coders can enjoy a lot of flexibility. They can get jobs in hospitals, nursing facilities, outpatient care clinics or physicians’ office
Seeking job opportunities with MBC:
Coders, proficient in new regulations and healthcare compliances are already changing scope of their work through training and knowledge upgrading. Medicalbillersandcoders.com has the largest consoritum of coders and billers, delivering quality healthcare by caoturing accurate medical data. MBC has a countrywide network of experienced coders and billers and special care is taken to keep the team updated with current industry changes. MBC also tries bringing coders and care providers together through its job board, catering to billers as well as providers across the US.
