The American economy has weathered some rough waters throughout the last few years. While medical coders are not immune to the effects of a turbulent economy, these professionals fared pretty well compared to other occupations. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate reached a high of 10.1% in September 2009.(1) In comparison, the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) 2010 Salary Survey revealed that only 6.8% of medical coders with Certified Professional Coder (CPC®) certification were unemployed in the previous year.

What Is Employment Like for Medical Coders?

As you learn more about the medical coder field, you may be looking for more detailed insight, such as the top method used to find a job and what types of employment benefits are offered. The following statistics provide a closer look at medical coding employment as reported in the AAPC 2010 Salary Survey:

The BLS reports that job prospects for medical records and health information technicians, which include medical coders, appear to be good in the coming years. Employment rates for this field are actually expected to increase 20% between 2008 and 2018, which is much faster than the average for all occupations.(5) Even in this slowly recovering economy, the job outlook and employment benefits for medical coders with relevant training and certification still seems to be positive.

1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Databases, Tables & Calculators by Subject. “Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey: Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate”; data extracted October 31, 2011. < http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000>.
2 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-2011 Edition. “Medical Records and Health Information Technicians.” <http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos103.htm>.

Medical Billing and Coding Blog is sponsored by Ultimate Medical Academy (UMA), a leading healthcare career school. UMA has campus locations in Tampa and Clearwater, Florida, as well as online programs available to students nationwide. For more information, including details on UMA’s medical billing and coding training and degree programs and medical office and billing specialist diploma program, please visit http://www.ultimatemedical.edu.

If you are thinking about taking a course in Medical Billing and Coding or are already in a course or working in the field, then you should be thinking about becoming a Certified Professional Coder with the American Academy of Professional Coders.

Certifications allow medical billers and coders to validate their knowledge and expertise in various medical environments. It will also help you earn approximately 20% more than non-credentialed coders, according to the American Academy of Professional Coders.

These credentials are nationally recognized by employers, physician societies and government organizations.

Being credentialed may also give you and your employer more confidence in your ability to capture lost revenue for the payment risk and protect their practice from unfavorable audits.

As a credentialed billing and coder, doors may open up for you faster in:

•  Physician offices or groups

•  Hospital-associated physician offices or groups

•  Health system-associated physician offices or groups

•  Home health agencies

• Physician groups at a university and or in a teaching setting

•  Compliance auditors or forensic auditors of physician claims

•  Physician billing services

•  Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASC)

•  Outpatient hospital services not reimbursed by Ambulatory Patient Category (APCs) groups

•  If you are a consultant, educator, legal counsel, physician or other care-giver seeking a credential to demonstrate your command of outpatient medical billing and coding for physician services.

So get certified today if you are working in the field. If you are taking a course, be sure to take the certification exam shortly after your course is complete. There are also preparatory classes offered to help you prepare for the certification examination. Do it for yourself. This is a great accomplishment and will bring much more value to your degree.

This is a wonderful and exciting time to be entering the allied health field.  No matter what work setting you are in, allied health professionals are in demand.  As costs continue to rise, there are greater demands for improved quality and safety in patient care.  To tackle these problems, the U.S. healthcare system is turning to technology.

Why do allied health students need to know about electronic medical records? The answer is simple – because you will use electronic health records to accomplish tasks once on-the-job.  The transition from paper records to electronic health records affects everyone working in health care today.  Consider just a few examples of the changes electronic health records bring to these jobs:

• Medical assistants enter patient information, such as vital signs, into the electronic health record.
• Coding professionals review electronic documentation in the electronic health record to determine the appropriate code for an encounter.
• Technicians working in blood and chemistry labs, radiology, nuclear medicine, cardiovascular medicine and other areas respond to electronic orders and send test results electronically using an electronic health record.
• Billing professionals use information in the electronic health record to prepare insurance claims and patient statements.

As you can see, many allied health careers require the use of computers, and because of this, there is great demand for graduates to have a background in healthcare as well as experience with computers.  In addition, employers are seeking individuals who are capable of operating within a constantly changing work environment.

To be successful, workers must be willing and able to learn new things throughout their career.  In addition to education, certification from a nationally recognized organization, such as the American Academy of Professional Coders, brings more employment and advancement opportunities.

While America’s eventual transfer to electronic medical records (EMR) is a foregone conclusion, the ways in which we accomplish the shift is still being debated. The key is to create a system that makes doctors’ lives easier, and not more difficult. To achieve this goal, medical coding professionals are crucial to the future of electronic medical records.

The most logical interface to aggregate all medical records is the internet. Individual computers that contain medical record information is a method of the past; to maintain all medical records – a  huge amount of  information – a web-based system is the only option capable of immediately updating and maintaining the digital system.

Aside from changing a paperwork-based system that has become standard practice for them, doctors are often times unfamiliar with the pages of coded medical terms that are central to electronic medical records. This is another obstacle that stands in the way of the full adoption of digital health records, and highlights the necessary inclusion of medical coding professionals in healthcare facilities.

Professionals who are trained and experienced in medical coding facilitate the full implementation of electronic medical records. President Obama guaranteed that every American medical record will be electronic by 2014; this means huge job growth for medical billers and coders.

A web-based system of electronic records will improve the overall practice of healthcare. When a prescription is needed from a pharmacy, for example, instead of a phone call or paper slip, the pharmacy will receive the prescription automatically over the internet and will have the medication ready when the patient arrives. Without paperwork, healthcare in America will improve for all parties, and an essential ingredient of this progress are medical coding professionals.

Did the word “deduction!” jump into your mind the minute you thought about opening a home office? If so, you are thinking wisely, because a home office provides many great opportunities to deduct business expenses from your taxes.

But be careful. The IRS has some requirements – and traps – waiting for people who break the rules about what can be deducted.  So be sure to follow these steps to avoid trouble.

Read what the IRS has to say. Download Business Use of Your Home, a guide that is published by the Internal Revenue Service. It spells out which expenses are deductible, how much of your home you can deduct as a home office, and more. You’ll also find some unpleasant surprises. Example: If you sell your home for a profit after you’ve taking deductions for a home office in it, you could end up paying capital gains tax on your business. (See page 14 of Business Use of Your Home.)

Talk over your plans with your accountant or tax preparer. Your strategy for taking home-office deductions will vary according to whether you own your home or rent, the physical layout of your home, the amount of time you intend to stay in your current residence, and other factors.

Keep complete records of all deductible expenses. A file cabinet is your best friend in this area. Set up files for office expenses, travel expenses, and all other categories. Also: Print out and file records of Internet purchases, invoices and other electronic documents that you will need to complete your taxes. Preparing your taxes will be much easier if you have all your records in one place.

If you have multiple clients, keep careful records for each of them. You will need to track the income for each of them – as well as expenses that apply uniquely to them – separately. Your accountant or tax preparer can help you set up filing categories to keep everything straight.

Consider using an accounting program to track all expenses and income. Intuit Quickbooks, a program that is available through computer retailers and via download, is excellent. But remember, you have to be diligent about entering all your data into it.

If you bill several clients by the hour, use software to track your hours and income.  Intuit Quickbooks Pro and Premier editions can track billable hours and expenses for multiple clients – plus, they are excellent all-around accounting programs for your business. Also: Some home workers with multiple clients recommend project-management software called Tenrox Timesheet.

And one more consideration . . .

If you are setting up a home-based business, this could be a great time to establish a self-employed qualified retirement plan (SEP IRA) or other retirement plan. You might be able to contribute up to $2,000 a year tax-free. Consult your accountant or tax preparer to learn whether such plans are a good idea for you. Now that you are self-employed as a biller coder with a business of your own, why not enjoy all the benefits?

Medical billing and coding professionals represent a small niche of a large medical community. Most healthcare professionals must possess great communication skills and have the ability to interact with all types of people. Medical billing and coders are unlike most healthcare professionals; they spend the majority of their days by themselves, often times never interacting with anything except their computer. Billing and coders excel in controlled settings where they can code all day without any interruption, and normally are content working by themselves for hours at a time. For these reasons, it is even possible for billing and coders to work from home. While they are unlike most medical professionals, billing and coders fill a necessary slot in the medical community.

A Certified Professional Coder (CPC) is the most basic and entry level of medical coders, and the first step that most  take when starting a career in medical billing and coding. A prospective CPC must pass the medical coding certification exam, which is sponsored by the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC). To prepare for the exam, and to gain relevant field experience, most candidates receive training at specialized career schools or junior colleges. It is imperative for prospective CPCs to have on-job experience as medical coders, and to also have relevant experience in a healthcare office environment arbitrating the medical coding of  services, operations and diagnoses.