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#65151 - 03/26/07 08:41 AM
What is the difference between billing and coding?
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jodia
Junior Member
Registered: 09/21/04
Posts: 28
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Coding as a profession vs billing. I like the idea of coding. Billing sounds totally different and something I would stay away from. So, if I am a coder, is my only association with billing the fact that I assign the correct codes so the billers can bill correctly? If I take a course in coding, do I also have to learn billing as part of it?
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#65307 - 03/27/07 09:58 AM
Re: What is the difference between billing and cod
[Re: jodia]
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Linda Andrews CMT
Moderator-Andrews School
Registered: 12/31/69
Posts: 4927
Loc: Oklahoma City, OK US
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In our course we have just a "smidgen" of billing at the end, so coders can see what happens in the Billing Department of a hospital after the coders have coded the procedures and diseases, etc.
One big difference is, every medical office/hospital does billing just a little bit differently. Even if you trained in billing, you'll still have to learn it their way or learn a new system if you change to another employer. Billing is more like an Accounts Receivable section of a business and doesn't require much in the way of medical knowledge. There would be contact with the "customer" or patient and insurance companies regarding payment or refusal to pay for services done.
Someone else will be able to add more than I can because I was out of the office all day yesterday in meetings and my e-mail runneth over. I just stopped to "play" for a moment before I face the stack of work on my desk, which is SCARY! 
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#65561 - 03/29/07 02:14 AM
Re: What is the difference between billing and cod
[Re: Linda Andrews CMT]
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Redpen
Member
Registered: 12/31/69
Posts: 878
Loc: Virtual Oklahoma!
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There are jobs that are only billing, mostly billing with a little easy coding, and coding keeping billing in mind.
Coding involves reading medical reports, determining correct diagnoses from the documentation, inquiring of the physician if anything was documented in such a way that money could be lost, determining exactly what the procedural details are, and coding those according to classification systems. It involves extracting certain types of information from patient records. The codes and information are submitted for statistical purposes as well as for reimbursement. It's done while keeping an eye on reimbursement issues, such as how things have to be billed, what various insurers require, what Medicare requires, etc. It may also involve doing things like audits of physician documentation and coding, or developing chargemasters and encounter forms (those check-off lists doctors use to indicate a patient's conditions and treatments--you get one as a receipt after seeing the doctor, usually).
We do teach students about reimbursement, because you have to know a good bit about it in order to be able to code. But, "billing" isn't our main focus. We teach enough that a student can get a job in a physician office or clinic doing medical coding/billing--they might use that as a stepping stone to a purely coding job. It's a very good way to get a good grasp of what medical offices require, and that can be parlayed into a job as a coding consultant for medical offices.
_________________________
Redpen
(The Andrews School)
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#70050 - 05/07/07 08:37 AM
Re: What is the difference between billing and cod
[Re: Redpen]
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BizzeeMT
Member
Registered: 07/23/01
Posts: 1194
Loc: Midwest
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I can't speak for EVERY office, but every office I have ever worked in (for nearly 20 years pre-MT), coding is typically combined with billing and even "billing" in and of itself involves a lot more than A/R and followup. I was always attending seminars...Medicare had different coding requirements, BC/BS yet another set, Medicaid, Workers' Comp, etc. all had different coding/billing requirements.
Hospital coding is a whole 'nuther world.
Of course, my coding experience was, as I said, pre-MT, and prior to education and certification requirements and I am sure a lot has changed in that time as it was ever-changing in "my time." 
_________________________
For I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words bother me." — Winnie the Pooh
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Moderator: Linda Andrews CMT
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