What Is a Billing Representative and How to Become One
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What Is a Billing Representative?
A billing representative handles all matters related to billing, payments, and medical insurance filing for a doctor's office, hospital, or other medical facility. As a billing representative, your duties include interacting directly with customers, submitting health insurance claims, preparing and mailing patient bills, and collecting and applying payments received. The career typically requires at least a high school diploma or GED certificate and on-the-job training. You may also pursue an associate degree or certificate program in medical assisting to improve your job prospects. Additional qualifications include strong customer service, organizational, and computer skills, as well as experience with medical coding and terminology.
How to Become a Billing Representative
The qualifications that you need to become a billing representative include a high school diploma and job training. You can also start this career by pursuing a postsecondary certificate or associate degree. Relevant degrees include medical assisting, medical billing and coding, bookkeeping, or accounting. Some employers prefer applicants with an accounting-related bachelor’s degree. You use medical records and billing systems in this job, so you need computer skills. You also need to understand medical insurance, including Medicare, Medicaid, and other third-party insurance providers. You also need the ability to communicate with patients to obtain necessary information and explain billing decisions.
Billing Representative Job Description Sample
With this Billing Representative job description sample, you can get a good idea of what employers are looking for when hiring for this position. Remember, every employer is different and each will have unique qualifications when they hire for a Billing Representative role.
Job Summary
Our office seeks a Billing Representative to oversee the overall billing process for our operations. This includes handling invoicing, reconciling, medical billing, and data entry tasks. In this role, your primary responsibilities will be to submit claims, prepare and mail patient bills, and facilitate collection management. Our ideal candidate has experience overseeing account receivables for a doctor's office, hospital, or another medical facility. A degree in accounting is a plus. We also expect applicants to have knowledge of billing systems, medical terminology, and insurance providers.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Handle billing processes, including matters related to invoicing and reconciling accounts
- Prepare and mail billing invoices
- Interact with patients to settle accounts and answer questions
- Collect payments and apply them to accounts
- Perform data entry
- Work with discretion to keep patient information private
Requirements and Qualifications
- High school diploma or GED certificate
- Bachelor's degree in accounting or a related field (preferred)
- Computer skills
- Knowledge of billing systems, medical terminology, and insurance providers, including Medicare and Medicaid
- Strong communication skills
- Attention to detail
