According to an October 2009 article from the Washington Post,  “In a healthcare debate characterized by partisan bickering, most lawmakers agree on one thing: American medicine needs to go digital”.

The article, entitled “Electronic medical records not seen as a cure-all”, outlines many of the problems currently clouding the shift to electronic medical records (EMR). It is clear from the article that America has an arduous road ahead in implementing an efficient and error-free system. Aside from the technical issues that healthcare facilities have encountered with their EMR, the time that physicians are forced to spend on their computers to maintain the system has also been problematic. This is where healthcare technology professionals, such as medical billers and coders, can pay huge dividends in future procedures of EMR.  Medical facilities will hire technical saavy medical billers and coders, who are specialily trained  in running EMR systems; these specialists can help eliminate the current problems plaguing today’s electronic health records.

Doctors and nurses are at the forefront of patient care, and receive most of the attention associated with running a medical office. Behind the scenes, however, medical and billing and coding specialists serve vital roles in maintaining a successful healthcare facility.

Here is a quick rundown of some of the responsibilities of medical billers and coders:

• Run the software and systems that help keep our healthcare network going
• Process critical claims and medical records
• Code medical and surgical procedures using proper terminology
• Collect payment from patients and insurance companies
• Validate patient insurance information

Electronic medical records will improve the efficiency and reliability of the healthcare system in America. Check out this report that outlines some of its benefits.

The implementation of an electronic medical record is not an easy task for medical offices. The process can be expensive, sophisticated, and time consuming, especially for smaller medical offices with limited resources. According to a study in Health Affairs it costs about $44,000 per physician to install an electronic health records system, and that is not including ongoing maintenance costs.

President Obama’s federal stimulus will go a long way in helping smaller medical offices actualize electronic medical records. According to a study published in June 2008 by the New England Journal of Medicine, “Only 9% of medical practices with three or fewer physicians now use electronic medical records. By way of comparison, 50% of practices with more than 50 physicians have electronic medical records”. By 2014,  all medical offices in the United States will have shifted to an electronic medical record, and medical billing and coding professionals will be instrumental to the process.

President Obama discusses America’s transfer to electronic medical records as part of his healthcare stimulus plan. Under his proposal, all medical records in America will be electronic by 2014;  as a result,  healthcare technology professionals, such as medical billers and coders, will continue to be in high demand.

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With billions of dollars being invested into healthcare technology and America’s imminent transfer to exclusively electronic medical records, billing and coding professionals will become increasingly vital to healthcare facilities throughout the country. As more healthcare facilities undertake an electronic medical record system, there will be an increase in job openings for medical billing and coding professionals, a claim supported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics:

It states that employment levels of medical records and health information technicians are “expected to increase by 18 percent through 2016 – faster than average for all occupations”. The report continues by saying that these professionals “will be needed to enter patient information into computer databases to comply with Federal legislation mandating the use of electronic medical records”.

President Obama’s healthcare stimulus package will serve as a catalyst for the long-awaited shift to electronic medical records (EMR) in America. Obama addressed the American Medical Association in June and said that “We do a better job tracking a FedEX package in this country that we do tracking a patient’s health records”.  Upon assuming the reigns of President, he vowed to change the way we track medical records, and guaranteed that America would move entirely to EMR by 2014.  His stimulus package is a huge step in that direction.

Approximately $19 billion of federal funding is primed for investment into health information technology nationwide. The funding is dispersed across several different sectors that are each necessary components of changing the way we organize and catalog medical records.