What is the job market like for medical billing & coding specialists?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects better than average growth in this vital industry as doctors, patients, insurance companies, and governing agencies set higher standards for more accurate and comprehensive record-keeping. In fact, BLS projects an 18% increase in the number of billing and coding specialists employed by 2016. Hospitals still employ two out of five billing and coding professionals, but that trend seems to be changing. Although Hospitals and physician’s offices often have their own administrative offices with their own staff of billing and coding specialists, they are more and more often outsourcing the work to professional billing and coding service firms or home-based employees. According to both BLS and one billing and coding school enrollment administrator we talked to, job prospects through professional billing and coding service firms are becoming more common.
