Steady Growth & Job Diversification for Medical Billers and Coders!
Consistent progress in the health care sector for the last few years; has left professionals associated with the industry in no doubt that they are working in a dynamic and secure industry. Moreover despite the recession the industry has gradually progressed; offering increased opportunities especially to - medical coders, billers, practice managers, auditors and educators.
Prominent Reasons for the Steady Growth
Various changes in the healthcare industry can be attributed to the growth -
- New and changed methods of making payments to federal and commercial payers have been developed and mandated, requiring increased professional support
- Diverse type of practice mix and sizes have evolved along with increased associations; leading to a much greater than before need of specialists to help streamline the medical billing process
- Growth and diversification of professional roles, expertise, areas of work and education for medical billers and coders, has led to multiple and diverse opportunities
- Recently there has been an increased amount of decision-making power and responsibility required from medical billers and coders, with most of the healthcare set-ups necessarily requiring designated billing specialists for the medical billing process
Growth in salary-
As medical biller and coders gain more credibility for knowledge and expertise; their salary graph has also steadily increased. Industry standards state for 2012 the average salary was $47,870, (includes credentialed and non-credentialed salary); credential wise, the averages for 2012 were-
- Certified Coder - $47 796 (up nearly $900 from last year)
- Certified Coder - Hospital Outpatient - $56466 (up nearly $1800 from last year)
- Certified Coder – Payer– $55255 (up nearly $3800 from last year)
- Certified Medical Auditor - $59365 (up more than $3200 from last year)
- Specialty credentials - $54145
Salary Growth variables
- Practice size - smaller groups or practices average salary raises (9.7%) has been comparatively higher than that of facilities (average raise between 4 to 5%)
- Job Responsibility - salaries are affected by job responsibility, with educators currently earning the most in the industry
- Experience - though unfortunately beginning coders’ salaries have not altered much in five years, coders with significant experience have seen a substantial growth in their salary
- Credentials - gradually there has been a definite upward trend towards healthcare providers hiring medical coders with credentials
- Education - though in the past higher levels of education did not always fetch a higher salary, presently most medical coders with a higher education on an average obtain higher salaries.
Industry standards
- Associate degree holders make 9 % more than those who have not attended college
- Bachelor’s degree holders make 21 % more than those with an associate degree
- Master’s degree holders make 46% more than those who have a bachelor’s degree
What can you expect in the future?
Due to the numerous challenges various providers are willing to sell their practice to facilities, and in turn many medical billers and coders saw an upward trend towards facility employment in the last year, which is likely to increase further. Though most medical biller and coders prefer to work in an urban setting (44%), followed by a suburban location (37%) and then rural areas (19%); salaries have increased across all regions and the future looks highly optimistic for a career in medical billing and coding.
In this scenario Medicialbillersandcoders.com equipped with experienced Billers and Coders well-versed with HIPAA, ICD-9-CM and ICD-10- CM offers coders a platform to excel in their domain. MBC offers wide opportunity to billers and coders across all US States to cater to the growing demand.
Our job portal, industry updates and newsletters provides a vast pool of opportunities and knowledge to our coders; along with constant updates about industry changes like the ICD-10 transition updates through our ICD-10 training guide.