Medical Billing

Now, when you go to a doctor, you would expect the physician to concentrate on what you are telling him (i.e. – your complaint) and give you the best possible solution (the treatment) to solve that. You don’t want the doc to be distracted with other responsibilities that he might have (e.g. – billing you for his services offered, liaising with your insurance company, etc). Here’s where medical billing comes into play.Americans believe in division of labour, and expecting a physician to perform multiple tasks (some of which are unrelated to medicine itself!) goes against this belief. They came up with the concept of Medical billing which is nothing but introducing a third person who will get patient treatment data from the doctor, make the bills, speak to the insurance company and reimburse the physician for his services.Why can’t the patient deal with these themselves? Well, we know that the person is already ill and really don’t want to add to their burden. Wouldn’t life be simpler if someone were to deal with all the annoying paperwork of filling out forms and going through bills to make sure that they’re not incorrect? And that’s not mentioning the countless hours on the phone, negotiating with the insurance companies! doesn’t really stop at that. Billers also are involved in analyzing records and pointing out areas which can be improved in the entire process. These analyses are extremely beneficial when it comes to renewal of contracts. Most of the medical billers would also undertake medical transcription services. Apart from this, they also advise physicians and health care providers of changes in the fee structure and new coding practices.Though the law does not mandate you to be certified to become a Medical Biller, there is always the added advantage of holding a piece of paper which says that a recognized organization approves of you! The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) conducts various exams such as the Certified Medical Reimbursement Specialist Exam (CMRS Exam) which you can take up. The internet also provides a lot of practice tests for these exams.In a nutshell, yes – it is a rather complex process which you can obviously be trained on, but at the end of the day medical billing simplifies the work of a physician thereby helping him to concentrate on the more important role of treating a patient. It also eases the concerns of a patient by taking care of all communication between the insurance company and the physician.