By Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD,
and Carole Burns, OD, FCOVD
Oct. 5, 2022
A professional coder can help you submit claims in a more timely and accurate manner, so reimbursement is not delayed or rejected. Here is guidance on how much you should be paying these employees.
Correct coding for office claims for both medical and vision office visits represent approximately 70 percent of the revenue to the average eyecare office. On the west coast, we see practices that may be as high as 95 percent third party. Because this represents so much of the gross revenue collected, it is important for a practice to make sure they are managing this area of the practice appropriately.
To achieve this, some practices hire this work out to a separate billing company while others have an internal third-party billing expert. Let’s explore what you should pay an internal third-party expert.
According to ZipRecruiter, the pay range for a medical coder for the country as of September 27, 2022 is given in the chart directly below.1
Location matters, so here is a breakdown by state ranked by pay for a medical coder from highest pay to lowest (Click HERE for an adjustable, easier-to-read PDF of the chart):
ZipRecruiter reports annual salaries as high as $52,000 and as low as $28,570 with the majority of salaries ranging between $36,500 (25th percentile) to $43,500 (75th percentile).
The other interesting fact is that the average pay range varies about $16,000 regardless of location suggesting that there are not many opportunities for increased pay or advancement even with experience.
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Your greatest concern is that your coder would leave your practice for a higher-paying job in another field, so be flexible in how you structure their job.
If you are using an in-house coder, you now know what is a reasonable amount to pay for that person.
Use this same type of analysis for all team members.
References
i. Medical Coding Salary ($40,094 – October 2022) ZipRecruiter
