© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Careers in Healthcare: Medical Assistants, Coders, Recorders

Medical assistants complete administrative and clinical tasks in the offices of physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities. Their duties vary with the location, specialty, and size of the practice. Medical assistants are first and foremost concerned with patient care, and this can be put into action in a number of different settings ranging from working in a large hospital to working in ambulatory care. Medical assistants work under the direction of a supervising physician to perform necessary administrative and clinical tasks. Some of those administrative duties include updating patient records, scheduling appointments and handling various tasks in relation to patient billing and insurance.

Medical coders document the diagnoses given to a patient as well as the procedures and equipment used to treat them. They then take this list and enter it in a coded form, which makes record-keeping easy and consistent across all healthcare facilities. Medical coding also helps remove ambiguity from diagnoses, and removes the risk of illegible writing or changes in terminology that might cause problems for patients later on.

A closely related career is medical billing, so the jobs of billing and coding are often performed by the same person. When a patient undergoes a medical procedure or visit, billers handle payment for that service.  As a medical biller and coder, you can expect to work with medical records and communicate with doctors, nurses, and other caregivers, as well as with billing agencies such as Medicare or private insurance companies.

Join us on February 23rd as our guest speakers discuss three excellent job opportunities in healthcare!

Presenter:      Cleveland Clinic Staff

Stay Connected