Get A Clean Bill of Health with a Career in Medical Billing |
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November 7, 2006
by Joe Cooper
Healthcare Programs Columnist
Accounting scandals: they're not just for Enron anymore. Tenet Healthcare, a hospital owner and operator, just got ordered to pay a large settlement based on allegations from the US Department of Justice that it overbilled Medicare payments. Medical billing is an essential component of the healthcare industry, and of the utmost importance to its, well, healthy growth.
Online Degrees Fit the Bill
A career in medical billing is about more than writing invoices and balancing ledgers. When you attend medical billing school, you learn all about medical bills, insurance, reimbursement, and more. In a medical billing job, you will work behind the scenes of the very big, very expensive world of healthcare.
There are many different insurance providers with many different types of billing and reimbursement. Beyond that, there are even more physicians and hospitals, each with their own method of billing. Many times, medical billing falls under the umbrella of medical transcription or medical coding. These are different roles, but ones that just might involve pitching in and helping out with medical billing.
A Taste of Your Own Medicine
You can become a certified medical insurance biller, a medical assistant, or other medical professional in order to begin a medical billing career. The courses you'll find at medical billing schools generally include subjects like anatomy and physiology, but advance to focus on software, billing, and insurance.
The good news is that you can find medical billing jobs in every hospital. Medical billing jobs are an essential part of the healthcare industry. If healthcare really is going to grow 3.6 million jobs by 2014, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics claims, the industry will need to fill many new medical billing jobs between now and then.
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About the Author
Joe Cooper is a freelance education and technology writer and edits medical literature. He holds a bachelor's degree in American Literature from UCLA.
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