How Hard Is Medical Billing and Coding

Medical Billing and Coding is a crucial step in the delivery of patient care. Medical Billing and Coding Specialists review patient care history to assign codes to treatments, which are then sent to insurance providers as claims for review and payment.

While this sounds complicated and difficult, it may not be as challenging as you think. With the right education, training and experience, medical billing and coding can be an enjoyable and rewarding career.

What Are the Main Challenges of Medical Billing & Coding Jobs?

As with any career, medical billing and coding presents challenges, especially to those new to the role. Many Medical Billing and Coding Specialists believe the top three challenges of the job to be:

  • The language: Medical Billing and Coding Specialists rely on three major coding systems to identify and record medical symptoms and treatments. Learning these three coding systems can seem like learning a new language. Fortunately, coders are offered support in the form of reference codebooks and software programs, making it much easier to gain mastery of the coding systems.
  • The details: The process of coding medical symptoms or treatments often involves many steps, with many different factors to be considered. The sheer volume of details that must be addressed for each task can be difficult to manage. As experience is gained and processes are developed, managing the many details becomes much easier.
  • The tools: Medical Billing and Coding Specialists rely on complex coding software applications to do their jobs. Due to their often-complex nature, these tools can be challenging to learn, difficult to master and frustrating to operate. With the right training and experience, these tools become a valuable part of the Specialist’s job.

While these may seem like overwhelming challenges, many Medical Billing and Coding Specialists quickly overcome the difficulties of the role and settle into long and enjoyable careers.

Medical Billing & Coding Can Be Quite Rewarding

To make your career in medical billing and coding more enjoyable, be sure to:

  • Commit to learning: Students who only learn the basics of the job may struggle to adapt to its challenges. Commit to learning anything and everything you can about Coding and Billing, even after you’ve obtained employment. There’s always something new to learn, and learning can mean the difference in your career.
  • Maintain current knowledge: The healthcare industry changes quickly, and often, making it important to keep a current knowledge of Coding and Billing standards and processes. Read trade magazines, ask supervisors for regular updates and network with peers for updates insight into the industry.
  • Study and review challenges: The more you understand the issues that challenge you, the better armed you’ll be to deal with them. When you encounter a challenge, study it and look for ways to overcome the problem. Chances are, the next time you encounter a similar issue, you’ll find it much less challenging.
Explore the Potential of a Medical Billing & Coding Specialist Career

The only true way to gauge the difficulty of a job is to speak to someone who’s done it. At Cambridge, our staff maintains a network of healthcare professionals from across the country, including Medical Billing and Coding Specialists. We are happy to help you get answers to your career questions. Contact an advisor for more information.

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