Medical service and bill payment before insurance
Before the onset of services of medical insurance companies the bills raised by the physician’s offices used to be directly paid by the clients or patients and there was no complex billing procedure involving the process of keeping records and third party intervention was there. Patients used to pay directly to the attendant physician or staffs for the service they received. This was the common scenario of medical service and corresponding payment of bills before insurance companies came into picture or medical billing came into practice.

The beginning of medical billing
In the beginning when the insurance companies got involved in medical insurance, the officials of the insurance companies had to visit the physician’s offices to make contract of payment of bills for their covered lives. Gradually with the popularity of medical insurance, insurance companies resolved to pay an ‘usual and customary’ amount to the physician as the reimbursement for their service. By the term ‘usual and customary’ meant that the physician would be paid an average of the chargeable amount for the particular service in that region. To maintain proper reimbursement and to hike the rate of received payment physicians started to increase this ‘usual and customary’ rate. With this pulling of interests from both ends of insurance companies and medical services clients started to suffer as they had to give higher premiums for the promised service. With this situation government had to involve with necessary regulations for safeguarding the interests of all concerned parties. With the formation of strict regulations the business of medical insurance got momentum and it spread in the public sphere in huge proportion. With this rise of medical insurance the proper and accurate settlement of claim became necessary as insurance companies with their growing business could afford to pay the claims without getting into the exact process and steps of the bill being raised and verifying them. This made the necessity of a well organized medical billing process felt by both the insurance companies and health care establishments.

From paperwork to computerization
Never can be the description complete of how medical billing came into practice without analyzing the scientific breakthrough in the advancement of the profession. In the beginning medical billing used to be done entirely done on paper and there was no industry specific codes to transmit the patient information but gradually with the growing need of safeguarding the insurance companies’ and policyholder’s interest the use of alpha numeric codes became obvious with the objective of maintaining privacy and secrecy of information. The second biggest leap forward in the history of medical billing is the use of computer, internet and subsequent use of made-for-the-purpose billing software which as a whole completely change the face of the medical billing profession.

From the first advent of medical insurance to the modern medical billing software, medical billing came a long way and its recent rise as one of the top medial profession is only a recent phenomenon.

University of Phoenix
In the Online education map of the country this university has a special place because of its enormous network of online education which earned it the reputation of being largest online educational network in the entire north America. This university provides a degree curriculum in the medical billing and coding discipline.

Herzing University
This university focuses in preparing the students in the modern day challenges of a medical billing job. The students are given full exposure in the fields of medical coding practice, health care operational environment, functioning of health insurance and companies and also medical facility office administration. The students are taught multiple coding languages and methodologies like, ICD-9-CM and CPT-4, and CPT or HCPCS coding systems.

Penn Foster Career School
Though it is not a university and there are academic limitation, but the reason behind featuring this institute in the list of top online medical billing schools is that it has a wide range of technical educational programs which are job focused and career enhancing. The medical billing program of this school offers certification and prepares the student for the future career responsibility in relation to the job challenges.

Ultimate Medical Academy
This is a institute which is too well known for its state of the art training and education in various medical disciplines. In just 8 months you can obtain a certificate in medical billing and coding which prepares you for the medical billing job responsibilities in various types of clinical atmosphere in diverse range of medical facilities.

Sullivan University
This university deserves to be mentioned in the list of top online medical billing and coding schools because of its unique course curriculum which trains you with numerous types of patient data to translate and provides full exposure in the training of related fields like, medical terminology, information technology, anatomy and physiology, insurance practices and parameters etc.

Many a great name have been excluded in the above mentioned list of top online medical billing and coding schools, but in the end one cannot put himself beyond debate in regard to preparing such a list.

Educational Prerequisite and Prior Experience
1st Step: Medical Billing Education
Obtaining a certificate or a bachelor’s degree provides you the necessary grounding towards a medical billing career. A rigorous training from a reputed medical billing school let you stand in a more career focused position when you are looking forward to being recruited as a medical biller as a beginner in the industry.

2nd Step: National Accreditation in Medical Billing
After finishing the education in medical billing and obtaining the certification or degree the second step is to pass a test conducted by one of the national accreditation agencies. A national level professional accreditation is a vital step towards becoming a professional medical biller.

3rd Step: Working in a medical office for an in-job exposure in the functioning of the various professional job roles of medical profession introduces you to the in-hand working experience of the job which is very much important in becoming a professional medical biller.

Developing in-job competence
Step 1: The job of a professional medical biller is primarily to translate medical and personal data of the patient in alpha-numeric codes and submitting the same to the insurance companies. To accelerate this process means to save your valuable professional time thereby gaining professional competence. So, to make the work done faster you have follow various medical billers method of translation and communication and have to adopt the best possible techniques of accelerating this process.
Step 2: An interdisciplinary study and exposure into the working of other medical professionals and departments in your work place would sharpen your skills in performing and understanding your job tasks as a professional medical biller.

To conclude, when we discuss about the steps leading towards becoming a professional medical biller, we must remember that to become a successful employee in medical billing and to have a self-sustained, upward moving career as a professional, are two different things. There are many opportunities for a qualified medical biller to become a self employed, highly paid professional, but to reach up to that status one must become a professional medical biller in the respective job position in a health care facility.

The hospitals keep detailed record of patients regarding the tests, examinations, procedures and treatment provided. Diagnoses by medical staff are also recorded. This medical record provides necessary information for the billing process. The medical billing cycle begins once you provide insurance information to the hospital or the doctor’s office.

The first stage of medical billing is insurance verification. The medical billing specialists send details of diagnostic tests, lab tests, surgeries, etc to the clinic or hospital in a prescribed format. Patient demographic entry is the second process involved in medical billing. In this stage, the billing specialist enter demographic details of patients such as, name, address, date of birth, medical history, insurance details, guarantor, etc.

CPT and ICD-9 coding is the next step. Most of the medical billing departments consist of AAPC coders, who are specialized in multi-specialty coding. Charge entry is the next procedure in medical billing. In this process, medical billers check the authenticity of insurance claims.

Claim submission is the next step in medical billing. It is submitted electronically through practice management system or paper claims. In this stage, senior billing specialist checks the claim thoroughly to ensure the quality of claims. Payment posting and account receivable follow ups are coming next. The final stage in medical billing is denial management. It is handled by senior medical billing specialists. This is the common procedure happening in a medical billing department of a large hospital.

Online Medical Billing Schools  

Online medical billing schools provide you adequate training to become a skilled medical biller. You can learn medical and computer skills such as computer billing software and basic biology through online courses. If you are going to enroll in medical billing school, you need to study subjects such as medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, medical billing, medical coding, denial management, revenue cycle management, Medicare, TRICARE, medicaid, clearing house, ICD-9-CM coding, medical billing in practice, HIPAA privacy, certificate, etc. You should also learn to prepare health insurance claims forms, billing management, medial documentation, electronic data interchange and modifiers, medical insurance and managed care, government programs, etc.

Some online medical billing schools also provide training materials, practice questions, CPMB/CMRS/CMBS/CCS-P/CPC exam preparation materials, medical billing videos, etc. Online training courses also prepare you for appearing AAPC CPC and AHIMA CCS-P examinations.

Some of the accredited online medical billing schools are:

• performance Training Institute,
• Allen School,
• Harrison College,
• Newbridge College Online,
• Charter College Online, etc.

The syllabus of online medical billing course include basic medical billing overview, types of insurance coverage, procedures and diagnoses, office forms, the superbill or encounter document, CMS 1500 form, codes, ICD coding, life cycle of an insurance claim, collection of claim data, claim information data entry and claim submission, receiving and posting payments, working with billing management software, basic components of billing application, physician data, patient data, claim generation, introduction to workers compensation, etc.