medical coding training at home.
If you're thinking at all about getting certified in or a certificate in medical billing, there are a few things you may want to know. It's certainly possible to get a job in the billing field without a certificate. Many people have done this and often they have moved into a billing job when they worked in another capacity at a billing service or doctor's office. So you don't have to have a medical billing certificate to get a job.
However having a certificate will help you get into the billing field easier. And just having some medical billing training may help you either get a job or help you if you're starting a home business. And you may be able to demand a higher salary or wages.
What many people don't know is there is more than one kind of certificate. If you go to school online or on campus you may get a certificate of completion for taking medical billing courses, classes, programs or training. This certificate may be good enough to get a job with a billing service or a large or small doctors' office or a medical or health-related office where they're doing their billing in house.
The other kind of certificate is for certification as a Certified Medical Billing Specialist. This is a certificate for passing a national examination, which is usually not a requirement at the school or online school where you train. It's purely optional. The exam is given by a national organization and your school may have sample exam questions and the actual type of exam to practice on if you're thinking about getting certified nationally as a 'billing specialist'. You may also get this certificate for hospital, instructor and chiropractic specialties.
The fact that there are two certificates is confusing and many people think they have to be certified to get a job in this field but they don't. Of course you may be able to move into a career in the field faster or get a job in the field when you have no on-the-job experience in billing so having certification in that sense may help. But the best thing to do is call a few of the medical billing services in your area and ask if they require any type of certification for their billing jobs and if so, find out which certificate they require.
The 'specialist' exam may involve some medical coding knowledge also but coders also have separate exams as they're separate functions.
Some schools use the national exam for Certified Medical Billing Specialists at the end of their training - so that would be a question for the on-campus or online schools you contact. That is whether they require it or not or if they just give a certificate of completion for medical billing training. There is financial aid and money available for online courses and classes so make sure to check that out. Also make sure to check out each school thoroughly, compare course costs and read the fine print to avoid scams.
medical coding training at home.