Medical Insurance Specialist
Applications for class of 2012 will be posted soon. Dates: 03/12/2012-12/19/2012
The Medical Insurance Specialist Program at Apollo Career Center is a full-time certificate program. The goal of the program is to prepare students for entry-level positions in a wide variety of healthcare settings such as physician's offices, clinics, insurance companies, and various other health oriented companies.
Duties of Medical Insurance Specialist include, but are not limited to:
- Claim coding/processing to include all medical procedures and diagnosis
- Performing data entry
- Handling phones
- Reviewing EOBs
- Working on appeals/denials
- Educating provider and other clinical staff
- Speaking with payers
- Filing/pulling charts
- Working with governmental and third party insurance carriers
- Auditing claims and medical documentation
- Auditing provider coding
- Preserving profitability
"Ask five medical coders to describe their work days, and you are likely to get five very different answers. Ask what each coder does, and you'll find that he or she wear many hats. Coder work responsibilities vary considerably, from managing the entire business for a single practitioner in a rural locale, to billing radiology for eight hours in a large metropolitan clinic, to auditing claims for a nationwide payer organization. Medical coders work in IT environments ranging from totally automated systems using electronic medical records equipped with computer assisted coding, to practices that haven't begun the transition to filing claims electronically." (www.aapc.com)
Admission Requirements
- 18 years of age or older.
- Graduate from a State Department of Education approved high school or have GED equivalency certificate.
- Pass required standards on pre-entrance and assessment tests which evaluate math and reading skills.
- Interview with the Director.
- Provide personal and employer references.
- Submit health information.
- Required Immunizations
- Current BLS CPR (Healthcare Provider)
Job Prospects
Job prospects should be very good. In addition to job growth, numerous openings will result from the need to replace medical record and health information technicians who retire or leave the occupation permanently. Technicians that demonstrate a strong understanding of technology and computer software will be in particularly high demand (www.bls.gov)
Medical Coding Salary
How much do coders really earn? What specialties, certifications, locations, education and other factors influence compensation? What should you expect when accepting or offering a job opportunity? The AAPC's annual medical coding salary survey answers all of these questions and helps both employers and employees gain a better understanding of the financial climate surrounding the medical coding profession. (www.aapc.com)
http://www.aapc.com/resources/research/medical-coding-salary-survey/
Source(s):
American Academy of Professional Coders
http://www.aapc.com
Bureau of Labor Statistics
http://www.bls.gov
