Medical Billing Salary

When it comes to considering career opportunities there are some very important factors to mull over. Weighing on the minds of most workers in today's economy are thoughts about job security, potential for advancement, benefits, and last but definitely not least pay rate.

One of the major reasons that the medical billing field is very popular is that you don't need an associate's or bachelor's degree to earn a living wage. That is not to say that training is not involved in obtaining a position at a medical billing company.

Although a certification, diploma, degree, or specified training is not required for every position in a medical billing office a medical billing salary will generally increase with the amount of training, experience, and responsibility that an employee has.

Below I have put together a table of the average medical billing salaries of the employees at my work, data that I found on the Internet, and from the word of mouth of friend's in the industry.

*These numbers are estimates and can dramatically change based on amount of training, experience, and location.

Medical Billing Salary Graph

Medical Billing Salary Range

The graph above shows the results of my experience and research in the medical billing field. Along the vertical axis are possible pay rates that you could expect based off of the horizontal axis which are years of experience as a medical billing specialist.

Reading the graph from left to right you will see that the average starting medical billing hourly salary is around $12.00 for a person with less than 1 year of experience in the field. If you continue to read the graph you will see that the average salary increases consistently as experience as a medical biller is gained. The graph ends at around $16.00 per hour for a medical biller after 10+ years of experience.

As I have mentioned a few times this graph is only an estimate; don't expect to earn 16.00 an hour right away or be discouraged if you aren't earning it after 10 years. Different positions have different responsibilities and offer different pay rates and many other factors can dramatically affect what your potential medical billing salary may be. Two major factors are professional position and education which is why I have explained some of the possible medical billing careers available as well as some opportunities that are available to earn certificates and get medical billing training below.

Medical Billing Careers

The medical billing field can offer a wide variety of opportunities for educated people, the computer savvy, and even entrepreneurs. The field is competitive in its nature, constantly growing, and always a strong job marketplace. So where should you look if you would like to start your path to finding a career in medical billing?

Careers in medical billing are available inside of hospitals, private practices, medical billing offices, accounting firms, and for the entrepreneurial spirit at home.

Many physicians and hospitals to this day prefer to keep their billing practice and staff in house meaning that practice managers and staff are kept in office to perform the duties of the medical billing specialist. I believe however that the majority of physicians in today's market have migrated to using an outside company like an accounting firm or a medical billing office in order to allow the doctor to perform more medicine and less business practice.

Hospitals are a little trickier to summarize because medical billing practices very widely throughout the departments of the hospital. In my experience most hospital departments are run by private managed groups that work out of many different hospitals and offices in the area E.G. a radiology group. These groups will then choose whomever they want to perform their medical billing services meaning that one hospital could use many different service providers. However it isn't uncommon for the board of directors of a hospital to decide to bring all billing matters in house or to outsource them one specific company to simplify the entire process.

For the entrepreneur's the medical billing field offers a great opportunity for you to obtain your own clients and start your own medical billing service from home. You will find many training programs available that will outline how you can begin your own company and begin earning a full time income by performing billing, coding, and even transcriptions services from your home or home office.