What Do Medical Billers Do?

Have you ever thought about joining a hospital team as a member of the billing department? Medical billers are essential employees to a hospital. Without them, bills could not be sent out and paid. However, there is much more to being a medical biller than just sending out bills. Below are some of the job responsibilities and duties of a medical biller.

Keep Up-to-Date Patient Information

According to Better Team, one lesser-known job duty of medical billers is keeping detailed patient information on file. These files need to be updated every so often as things in the patient’s life changes. As far as a medical biller is concerned, some important changes that will need to be updated in patient files include new addresses, name changes, emergency contacts, and insurance changes. 

Calculate Bills and Reimbursements 

Of course, one of the main duties of a medical biller is to calculate bills– but also reimbursements. There are several online and electronic tools a medical biller might use to do this, such as using online spreadsheets, charge capture software, and collection reports. Once the total bill amount has been calculated, bills will be sent out to the patients. The biller will also input the payment and other information that the patient eventually sends back. 

Investigate Denied Insurance Claims

Sometimes insurance claims get denied; it happens. However, only a very small percentage of insurance claims are usually denied. Hospitals usually accept a maximum of a 5-10% insurance denial rate. So, generally speaking, it’s odd if an insurance claim is denied. It is then up to the medical biller to find out why the claim was denied and to remedy the situation (if applicable). 

If any of these job duties sound interesting to you, if you have a firm grip on math, and if you have excellent communication skills, then being a medical biller may just be the perfect job for you!