Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Industry Transition to Make Certification A Norm For Biller & Coders!

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Even though currently billers and coders do not mandatory require obtaining certification, this is expected to change due to increased competition in the job market. Healthcare facilities are most likely to prefer hiring billing and coding specialists certified by recognized institutes such as American Health Information Management Association or the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC).

Industry experts believe-
  • Growing competition, growth and industry changes are collectively making employers more cautious, hence gradually increasing the need for certified medical billers and coders
  • Certification is most likely to become the norm from as early as 2020
 
Moreover medical records and health information technician- jobs are expected to increase by 21% from 2010 to 2020, hence considered as one of the fastest-growing fields in health care.

Reasons for Industry growth and transition Effect on Billing and Coding
Senior citizen population
Advances in medical technology have made is possible for people to live longer, more active lives, additionally by 2020, one out of six Americans will be 65 years or older by 2020. Hence demand for quality healthcare will grow further with the increasing senior citizens population.
Need for highly skilled billers and coders will increase in hospitals and other health care facilities.
Higher need for certified coders to accurately and quickly code, plus submit and follow up claims from varied insurance payers, for increased patients.
Constant variations in health insurance
The Affordable Care Act is helping provide insurance to various people who didn’t have access to this earlier, leading to an increase in number of insured individuals. Also recent and upcoming changes to private and public insurance, is gradually increasing the need for billing specialists.
Requirement for skilled billers and coders who are updated with insurance norms.
Well informed billers and coders who will be able to correctly process increased claims, respond accurately to insurance queries and help prevent fraud and abusive practices.
Electronic Medical Records
More than 50% of physician offices and four out of five hospitals have converted from paper to electronic medical records, according to a report published by HHS recently in May 2013.
Increase in need of certified billers and coders who can properly –organize code and maintain the data required for digitization and easily handle issues related to of current information technology systems.
Remote Billing and Coding
High gas prices, parking and highway congestion, and expensive office space will eventually lead to increased transition from the office to online and an increase in billing specialist working remotely as independent contractors or employed by large, reputable employers.
These specialist will be required to handle the same tasks as on-site specialists, such as – evaluating patient records, coding, submission along with keeping updated with HIPAA standards and any industry changes. Hence employers would feel safer hiring certified billers and coders to ensure accuracy.
ICD-10 implementation
From October 2014, all health care providers will require switching to ICD-10 codes for their services and for hospital inpatient procedures.
Billers and coders will require to be updated with ICD-10 codes and most organizations will prefer hiring ICD-10 certified specialists anxious to avoid any revenue losses.
Specialists already certified in an ICD-9 coding can maintain their certification by enrolling in ICD-10 training program, either at their job or through an organization like the AHIMA.

In this scenario medicialbillersandcoders.com offers extensive opportunities to billers and coders to make use of this growing demand and industry changes by providing access to the best in the industry, serving healthcare for over a decade now. MBC the largest consortium of medical billers and coders; also provides a platform to their medical billing specialists who are well-versed with HIPAA, ICD-9-CM and ICD-10 –CM and serving varied specialties - to further excel in their domain.

Our constant industry updates, newsletters and job portal provides knowledge and huge prospects to medical billers and coders across all 50 US States. We also provide new avenues and updates for upcoming industry transitions like the ICD-10 transition updates through our ICD-10 training guide.
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