The healthcare industry is booming, top clinical and administrative talent is in demand. There’s never been a better time to consider a career in this up-and-coming field. Whether you’re good with people or a whiz with numbers, there’s a job waiting for you. Let’s take a closer look at two popular training programs, medical assisting, and medical billing, which can be completed in under one year attending full-time.
What Does a Medical Assistant Do?
Medical assistants manage clinical and administrative tasks in doctor’s offices, hospitals, clinics, and other medical facilities. It’s an exciting, blended role in which no two days are ever the same. Job responsibilities include:
Managing Phone Calls
Medical assistants are trained to recognize worrisome symptoms. When patients call with physical complaints, they collect data for the doctor, flagging urgent concerns. They also connect with patients before surgical or diagnostic procedures to review instructions and post-procedure care.
Rooming Patients
Medical assistants greet patients upon arrival and get them settled in exam rooms before the physician comes in. They review demographic information, verifying medication and allergy lists, so the doctor has the most up-to-date information with which to make clinical decisions.
Taking Vital Signs
As a medical assistant, you’ll take patients’ weight and vital signs at each visit, changing trends can be a risk factor for disease. Dosages for many medications, from antibiotics to antihypertensives, are based on weight, heart rate or blood pressure, so accuracy is essential.
Running Diagnostic Tests
Many diagnostics that were once done only in hospitals can now be performed by medical assistants in physician’s offices. Vocational school programs prepare students to do a range of tests with limited supervision, from EKGs to pacemaker checks, so doctors get immediate results, it’s convenient for patients and a more efficient use of resources.
Phlebotomy
Medical assistants are trained to draw blood from veins, collecting samples for tests. It’s a technical task that requires people skills and sound clinical judgment.
Giving Injections
Medical assistants are allowed to give intramuscular, subcutaneous, and intradermal injections in most states, using them to administer medications, including vaccines, and perform tuberculosis testing.
Billing and Coding
Most doctor’s offices use practice management software to track inventory so that supplies used during care can be billed to the right patient. Medical assistants ensure accurate reimbursement by properly coding documentation to reflect the services rendered.
Patient Education
Medical assistants serve as liaisons for the healthcare team. Valuable sources of information, they help doctors and nurses get the word out on timely health topics from medication safety to immunizations.
What Does a Medical Biller Do?
Medical billers have a non-clinical role managing administrative tasks related to billing, health insurance claims and financial reporting. The work is predictable yet never dull. Their responsibilities including:
Filing Insurance Claims
A medical biller files insurance claims, reviews charts and does the necessary research, so companies get the data they need to make quick coverage decisions. Being detail-oriented is a plus.
Medical Coding
Most healthcare bills in America are paid for by insurers, but companies require enormous volumes of information to determine if patients’ policies cover their bills. When completing claims forms, medical billers reduce the amount of data being transferred by condensing pages of facts into short, alphanumeric codes that describe everything from health conditions to medical supplies. Codes are also used internally and by healthcare watchdogs to track financial and health outcomes.
Requesting Insurance Preapprovals
Most elective healthcare services require preapproval, it’s a simple way for patients and healthcare facilities to avoid unexpected bills. Policies can be confusing, so it’s not unusual for patients not to know what they do and don’t cover. Medical billers work with insurers in advance to ensure services are reimbursable, helping patients and doctors make better treatment decisions.
Troubleshooting Rejected Claims
Some health insurance claims are denied for reasons ranging from insufficient data to transcription errors on claim forms. Medical billers review rejections, amending and resubmitting claims for timely reimbursement. Cash flow is vital to keeping the lights on in medical facilities.
Light Accounting
Medical billers track payments from the time services are provided until the final payment is made. Healthcare billing is complicated. Transactions typically require several adjustments, beginning with negotiated discounts, the amount doctors are paid by contract for seeing an insurer’s policyholders. Coinsurance payments made at the time of a visit are deducted while payments from insurance companies, sometimes more than one, must be verified and reconciled. Interest, late fees, and collection costs on overdue balances may also be applicable.
Billers may also be asked to perform a range of accounting tasks in the context of their role, from reconciling credit card payments to complimenting financial reports.
What Are the Major Differences Between a Medical Assistant and a Medical Biller?
Medical assisting and medical billing are similar in many ways. Both are flexible, future-forward careers offering regular hours and advancement opportunities. Each is backed by a professional organization that works to improve the field, continuing education is encouraged. Both work in similar settings, although medical billers may work in offices where health services are not provided. And at the end of the day, each contributes to the wellness of patients and the community.
But while the roles overlap in some areas, there are also clear differences. Medical billers have no clinical responsibilities. They get a brief primer on anatomy, physiology, and medical terminology in school so they can understand the language in health records. Their job is purely administrative but still requires some contact with patients and clinical staff, everyone in healthcare works on the same team.
Medical assistants are trained to manage both clerical and clinical duties, but their education in billing and coding isn’t as intense. Their clinical skills would be wasted in an all-administrative job, so they receive just enough training to help bridge the gap between the medical and business aspects of medicine. The role requires a close therapeutic relationship with patients.
What’s the Best Way to Become a Medical Assistant or Medical Biller?
Healthcare is a complex, highly regulated industry in which employers are held liable for the performance of their staff. Few private practices or medical facilities have the resources to provide the same level of training on the job as a vocational school can offer, so why take a chance on unqualified applicants?
Higher education in this industry is a must, but is it necessary to spend years in college? Training is never wasted, but the truth is, people with diplomas qualify for the same jobs in a fraction of the time. If you’re an adult with responsibilities and can’t afford to be without a job for two or four years, don’t put your aspirations on the back burner. Consider enrolling in a vocational school.
What Are the Benefits of a Vocational School Diploma?
There are many benefits to getting a vocational school diploma. From a comprehensive education to learning from industry seasoned instructors, if you are ready to start a new career than a vocational school can help.
Benefit #1: Get a Comprehensive Education
A college degree has long been the gold standard for education, yet vocational schools deliver the same high-quality training in less time by teaching practical skills. By focusing on what matters and eliminating electives that don’t improve job performance, you graduate in months, not years.
Benefit #2: Learn from Industry-Seasoned Instructors
Instructors who’ve worked in the healthcare industry have a deeper perspective on the medical assisting and medical billing fields. They’ve risen through the ranks, gathering knowledge along the way. Few people are better able to help you develop your career than those who have been there. Many are still in the business and can offer networking tips.
Benefit #3: Relax in Small Classes
People who haven’t been in school for a while may be intimidated by an impersonal learning environment. Being a number in a packed lecture hall is no one’s idea of education.
But vocational schools offer the small class sizes proven to enhance learning. Students get individualized attention from instructors, and they can better interact with peers. It’s a more creative, interactive process with immediate feedback, no one gets left behind.
Benefit #4: Learn Hands-on
Hands-on classroom exercises may be among the most effective ways for adults to learn. Recall improves and students process more material in fewer sessions. Vocational school programs use more than books to teach.
Medical billing students practice the most common procedures using the same type of software most doctor’s offices use. Medical assisting students learn how to take vital signs and perform diagnostic tests on state-of-the-art equipment. Graduates are ready to hit the ground running their first day on the job.
Benefit #5: Prepare for Certification Exams
Getting certified as a medical biller or medical assistant is an important step in a graduate’s career. It demonstrates proven skills and dedication to the field, impressing prospective employers and opening doors to opportunity. Vocational school programs cover the material on the certification exams and support students as they study.
Benefit #6: Enjoy Job Placement Services
Vocational schools excel at finding jobs for their graduates, their success as institutions depends on their placement rates. By working with local employers to meet their staffing needs, they become a crucial source of well-qualified medical billers and medical assistants. Graduates have the first crack at jobs the public rarely sees.
Benefit #7: Make Your Resume Shine
Training staff is expensive, and turnover is even more costly, so employers like hiring people who are committed to their field. Getting a diploma shows you care about your skills and your profession. As a new graduate competing with experienced applicants for the best positions, a diploma shines. It could be the difference between getting a job and your dream career.
Final Thoughts
There are many career options in the healthcare field, but few are as rewarding, secure and lifestyle friendly as medical billing and medical assisting. A better future working in a respected, flourishing industry is within your reach with a vocational school education. Why wait to pursue your dreams?
Medical Assistant
Interested in learning more about becoming a medical assistant? Meridian College offers hands–on Medical Assistant training from experienced school faculty who know how to prepare you for the daily challenges you’ll face on the job. From assisting doctors with patients to important administrative tasks, our experienced Medical Assistant program teachers will train you for a rewarding new career.
Medical Insurance Billing & Coding Program
Ready to attend Medical Insurance Billing & Coding program at Meridian College? Medical Billing and Coding professionals are responsible for keeping the records, charts, and bills in a medical office in order. In addition to the classroom experiences, students will also complete an externship for on-the-job training that will bring them further expertise. Contact us to learn more about.
Contact Meridian College today to learn more about becoming a medical assistant or medical billing and coding specialist.