Celebrating National Medical Biller’s Day

Today is Medical Biller’s Day and what better way to bring awareness then to explain what medical billers do and deal with on a day to day basis. In this blog, XiFin’s Director of HDx and Enhanced RPM Lynnae Sinatra gives her take on what it means to be a medical biller and the difficulties and benefits that come with a medical billing position.

Medical biller and coders keep the healthcare industry afloat and are crucial to healthcare providers, patients and insurance companies. According to Allied Health Schools, medical billers and coders’ main duties include reading and analyzing patient records, interacting with physicians to ensure accuracy as well as managing detailed and specifically coded information.

To paraphrase Lynnae, most people disregard what they are not familiar with and that’s why people outside the industry are misconstrued about the challenges of medical billing.

Becker’s Hospital CFO Report showed that “70% of providers reported that it takes one month or longer on average to collect payment from a patient.”

This means that more times than not someone needs to research the claim, track down the patient, the insurance provider and sometimes the physician to be sure that bills are correct and paid in full.

According to Lynnae, this is not the only difficult challenge about the job. She says, “medical billers are also required to be extremely disciplined in their research of the industry and skilled in customer service.” 

It should be obvious that medical billers and coders must play multiple roles to perform their job successfully and keep business running smoothly.

The competitiveness for medical billing jobs is increasing.  While many believe, it is easy to secure this role with a vocational certification, as of recently more and more employers are trending towards hiring business administration and financial graduates. Although this presents a challenge, it is a sign that medical billers are enhancing their skills and playing a more integrated role across the healthcare environment.

As we know, every job has it challenges and rewards. Lynnae explains her favorite part about being involved in medical billing, particularly in the lab industry, is being “in the know” about new testing and trends in the lab industry and healthcare. In addition, she noted that it is interesting to understand how revenue cycle management  and the healthcare system runs and to know the ins and outs of an industry that most people don’t fully understand.

For those of you, fellow medical billers out there, thank you!

Want to show your support to medical billers? Visit the American Medical Billing Association’s page for Medical Biller’s Day. Or check out job openings for those with medical billing experience, here.