Medical Insurance Specialist

 

Career and Major Information
Earnings
Related Occupations
Related Web Sites

 

Career and Major Information:

Walters State's two-semester Technical Certificate program is designed to prepare successful graduates for entry-level employment opportunities as medical insurance specialists.  Duties may include talking with patients about insurance issues, calculating medical bills and distinguishing between what the insurance company will pay and what the patient will owe, organizing the information contained in medical record files for reimbursement or compliance purposes, entering data into a computer, or compiling and summarizing the data into usable report form.  Other responsibilities will involve understanding billing procedures, basic coding, insurance guidelines, medical terminology, and regulatory changes affecting insurance billing and coding. 

Jobs may be found in hospitals, clinics, physicians’ offices, nursing homes, public health agencies or other healthcare agencies, and also in insurance firms. 

The minimum educational requirement is usually an associates degree.  Faster than average growth is expected through 2012 due to increased scrutiny by third-party payers.

 

Earnings:

The Tennessee Career Information Delivery System website lists the salary range for a beginning-level position in this field in Tennessee as $17,920 to $22,705 annually.  With experience, the range increases to $25,015 to $32,720.  The national average is higher by about $2,000 per year.  Salary figures quoted are based on national figures. Local or regional salaries may be lower.

 

Related Occupations:

Medical Records Technician

Medical Records Clerk

Health Information Management Technician

Medical Secretary

Medical Transcriptionist

Medical Coding Specialist

Health Information Coder

Medical Record Coder

 

Related Web Sites:

American Health Information Management Association

            http://www.ahima.org

 

Much of the above information was collected from the 2004-2005 Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the U.S. Department of Labor.  For additional information on these and many other careers, please visit the following web sites:

 

Occupational Outlook Handbook - U.S. Department of Labor

www.bls.gov/oco/

 

Tennessee Career Information Delivery System (TCIDS)

http://tcids.tbr.edu/.

 

 

For information regarding specific degree program requirements, curriculum, or faculty, please see the department website at http://www.ws.edu/health/default.asp.