Medical coding
technicians review patient charts and other documentation to assign industry-established alphanumeric codes to diagnoses and procedures. They sometimes need to obtain further information from doctors and other health care providers. Their work is used to streamline medical billing for insurance carriers. The average salary in Kentucky for medical coding varies by location.
Geography
Medical coding specialists earn different median salaries in various parts of Kentucky, according to Salary.com. Medical coders in Hazard, for instance, have a median annual salary of $37,460 as of March 2011, while those in Louisville are earning $42,354 per year. The median annual salary for medical coding in Williamsburg is $38,036, in Owensboro $38,591, in Bowling Green $39,199, in Hopkinsville $39,920, and in Lexington $40,542.
Salary Range
The middle 50 percent of medical coding specialists in Kentucky have salaries of $32,398 to $48,440 per year. The bottom 10 percent are making $27,789 and less, and the top 10 percent earn more than $53,980 per year. Nationwide, the middle 50 percent of medical coders make $38,421 to $50,808 per year. Median salaries for medical coding in Hazard and Williamsburg are in the bottom 25 percent nationwide.
Benefits
The job search website Indeed.com shows a limited number of job openings for medical coding work in Kentucky in 2011. Some positions combine coding with other medical billing work, such as tracking outstanding balances, making payment arrangements with patients, and updating payment records. The job postings generally do not provide salary information, but some employers do list benefits. Examples of benefits provided by some organizations include medical, dental, vision and life insurance, along with a company-matched savings plan, and educational assistance, plus paid vacation, personal days and holidays.
Education
The job postings indicate that Kentucky employers commonly require medical coding technicians to be certified by a professional organization, which involves acquiring a certain level of formal education. Some schools in Kentucky providing training in medical coding include Spencerian College, which offers a diploma program, and ATA College, which provides an associate degree. The websites of these schools note that medical coding specialists find work in doctors' offices, hospitals, insurance companies, medical billing agencies, outpatient clinics, and urgent care centers.
Tags: medical coding, coding specialists, medical billing, annual salary, bottom percent, coding technicians
