How Do Medical Coders and Billers Fare in Terms of Compensation?

Young people taking a long look at compensation before deciding on a career is normal. Even people who have been in the workforce for many years consider compensation before looking for a new job or jumping careers. It is expected. Given our industry, this leads us to wonder how medical coders and billers fare compared to other careers.

 

Medical coders and billers are combined in Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) under the broader category of medical records workers. Certain types of coders and billers are among the highest paid workers in the medical records category. These would be billers and coders that work for insurance carriers.

 

Nonetheless, billers and coders do very well across the entire medical records landscape. Whether you are just starting to plan your career or are looking to make a jump, medical billing and coding are worth looking into.

 

Looking into BLS numbers in more detail paints a pretty good picture. For example, the median annual salary among medical coders and billers in 2022 was $47,180. Meanwhile, the median annual salary across all careers was just over $54k. Even though the number for medical coders and billers is lower than the national average, bear in mind that median average salary is not the same thing as average wage.

 

The easiest way to understand median average salary is to take the entire salary range and find the midpoint. On average, half of the workers make more and the other half make less. This dictates that you, as a medical coder or biller, could make significantly more than $47,180.

 

BLS data also reveals where medical coders and billers work. Most work at general medicine or surgical hospitals. According to the BLS, the two types of hospitals employ more than 47k medical records professionals. Physicians’ offices take second place. Only a small number of medical coders and billers work for insurance carriers.

 

That said, insurance carrier employees earn the highest annual compensation in the medical records profession – in excess of $64k annually. This is probably due to the highly specialized nature of their work. The fact that there are so few jobs with insurance carriers also plays into their compensation.

 

One last point to take away from the BLS numbers is that medical coder and biller compensation can vary based on geographic location. For example, the highest annual compensation goes to medical records workers in California and Hawaii. But their higher salaries are partially a reflection of the higher cost of living in both locations.

 

Another way to look at it is this: employees need to earn a certain amount to be able to live comfortably in those two states. If hospitals and physicians’ offices hope to retain their current workers and hire new ones, they need to pay a living wage. Compensation in these states is higher as a result.

 

All in all, a medical records career is a great one to consider. It is ideal for people who are interested in the medical field but don't want to work in patient-facing occupations. Medical coding and billing do not involve service delivery, clinical work, and so forth. Both careers are mostly administrative in nature.

 

If you are starting your career or are looking to make a jump, take a look at medical coding and billing. Both careers pay well and offer plenty of room for growth and career development. As an added bonus, medical coding and billing will continue to be in demand for the foreseeable future.