This handy resource clearly explains the principles and practices used by medical offices, hospitals, and health facilities to encode medical services in order to receive payment from government agencies and insurance companies.
Very Good Overview I have worked with collections for 15 years. After reading this book I have a complete understanding of the billing proccess from start to finsh. Also very good information on how the doctor's office's work. In clear english. Thank you for the resorce.
Slanted and Basic I'll admit I was turned off in the first few pages of the book with a section that characterized medical insurance as a "game" and all-but accused medical insurers of deliberately delaying claims payment in order to make money, using an example that doesn't make any fiscal sense anyway.
Clearly, the authors have the "insurance is big business screwing the little people" agenda. Thus this book is not useful to anyone actually looking for a balanced or in-depth view of the medical reimbursement industry.
But for someone who's looking for a general introduction to medical office practice as seen from the eyes of the "little man" doctor, this is not a bad first choice. The roles of the various players in the office are correctly explained except for the frequent incorrect use of "medical insurance specialist." Clearly, the book is intended to build up those who feel that billing clerks are at the bottom of the office pecking order -- and that's not necessarily a bad thing either.
Anyone who thinks, however, that the book's little coding exam is actually all there is to coding is badly mistaken. The book also has a considerable paucity of information for those wanting to take the next steps.
I can't recommend it.
Not for college level... This book was disappointing for a college level reference. Perhaps better as a basic introduction, but not demystifying as promised.
Full of typos but some very useful info I have to agree with other reviewers who said this book was poorly edited. How this work could get past the proofreaders is beyond me! Perhaps they were in a hurry to get it published....That said, I did find this book very useful as I am considering a career in this area and really knew very little about what I'd be getting myself into. If you know a lot about the field already but want some detailed instruction on how to do coding, this book is NOT for you. After reading it, I have only a general idea of how it's done but couldn't code the common cold to save my life! However, if you're wondering what a medical biller and coder does, why this type of work is essential, and how the biller/coder fits into the big picture with insurance companies, healthcare providers, and patients, then I'd recommend this book. Even with my frustrations with all the errors, I still do not regret purchasing this book.
A Poorly Edited High-Level Introduction to the Industry "Medical Billing and Coding Demystified" provides a very high-level introduction to the namesake industry. I was disappointed that the first 80 pages of the book provide no information about billing nor coding, opting rather to provide a background of the entire healthcare industry that, as a whole, is only useful to the reader if he/she has never been to a doctor in the United States. Given that the book has fewer than 200 pages of informative text, I argue that the book is fundamentally mis-titled.
The book is also poorly edited, missing various commas and hyphens that would enhance readability, not to mention the authors' collective credibility. In one instance, the word "loose" is used where the word "lose" is the intention. These types of errors may seem trivial, but I prefer that my professional refrences be more polished than this one appears to be.
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