Medical coders and billers are unsung heroes in healthcare. They ensure providers' diagnostic and procedural notes are translated into the correct codes for tracking patient health and receiving payments from insurance companies.
Today's article briefly touches upon the occupations, how they work, and their relationships with each other. We then dovetail into four reasons medical computers are best for these relatively unknown but essential health office workers.
Basic Code: What is Medical Coding and Billing?
Medical coding and billing involve reviewing medical documents for record-keeping and insurance payments. While usually grouped as one occupation, they are actually two distinct specialties.
Medical coders or coders perform medical coding. They spend their shift reviewing providers' notes from sources like electronic medical records and looking for items like disease names, medical conditions, and even instruments used. Each item is assigned a standard code drawn from sources such as Current Procedural Terminology, International Classification of Diseases, and Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System.
Unsurprisingly, medical billers do medical billing. They review the codes from coders to generate billing claims for insurance companies. Billers must submit the correct codes, as companies deny payment requests due to errors. Billers are also responsible for investigating these denials and getting payment from patients for anything not covered by insurance.
Large healthcare groups can have separate medical coding and billing departments and staff. Given the two's intertwined nature, many typically hire workers skilled in both specialties.
Four Reasons Why Medical PC is Best for Coding and Billing
Medical coders and billers work under typical office conditions, spending long hours in front of a computer screen dealing with many electronic - and even paper - files. They shouldn't be working with off-the-shelf PCs typical in such places, though. Instead, they should be equipped with medical computers for the following four reasons.
Reliability
Medical coders and billers use specialized software or applications to perform their numerous duties. Their PCs must be reliable, as slowdowns and computer crashes could affect hours of highly precise work.
Medical computers are built from the ground up for such high reliability, which is unsurprising since such a breakdown in hospitals can lead to a life-or-death matter. Some of the features to look out for in highly reliable PCs include:
Fanless cooling design and solid-state drive: Both have no moving parts that could wear down and break, shutting down the PC entirely. Also, they're silent during operation and won't interpret the employee's concentration.
IP65 front bezel: The screen is sealed against dust and fluid, protecting the PC's interior from accidental spray by the cleaning crew or spilled coffee during employee breaks.
Low Computer Fail Rate: Reputable Original Equipment and Design Manufacturers further ensure their computers' reliability by ensuring they have as low a fail rate as possible.
Lots of processing power: Coders and billers' specialized software and applications can demand lots of processing power. PCs should come with Intel i5 or i7 processors to handle the workload.
Safe Screen
As mentioned earlier, medical coders and billers spend hours in front of their monitors. Computer vision syndrome or digital eye strain may result from too low brightness, resolution, or both from off-the-shelf PCs and monitors. Medical PCs and medical-grade monitors, developed for highly bright conditions like the operating theatre, may help avoid such eye problems. Coders and billers suffering from screen glare from indoor lights and sunlight can protect their eyesight with an anti-glare screen.
Privacy from Non-authorized Eyes
Regarding protection, coders and billers work daily with highly sensitive patient data. Privacy filters can protect it by obscuring screen views from any angle except directly.
Ergonomics for Well-Being
The long hours at a computer can affect coders' and billers' health with back strain and repetitive injuries like carpal tunnel. Computers can improve employee ergonomics, or well-being in work environments, in several ways. As discussed above, eyestrain can be avoided with a correctly lit screen. A light and compact design found in many All-in-Ones (AIO) makes it a breeze for users to position their PCs exactly for comfort. Finally, ports for peripherals like headphones should all be easy to reach and use without strain in well-designed medical AIOs.
Make Medical Coding and Billing Easy Through Cybernet PCs
Medical coders and billers interpret providers' records and notes into codes for various purposes, such as payment for services rendered. Computers must be built from the ground up to handle the demanding work and sometimes harsh hospital environments.
Contact the team at Cybernet Manufacturing if you are looking for suitable computers for your medical coding and billing departments. Team members will happily discuss the numerous features of our All-in-One medical PCs and even business computers for healthcare and why either one is superior to off-the-shelf brands.
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