Medical coding technician vs reimbursement specialist

The differences between medical coding technicians and reimbursement specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a medical coding technician and a reimbursement specialist. Additionally, a reimbursement specialist has an average salary of $38,273, which is higher than the $35,307 average annual salary of a medical coding technician.

The top three skills for a medical coding technician include medical billing, data entry and front desk. The most important skills for a reimbursement specialist are patients, customer service, and appeals.

Medical coding technician vs reimbursement specialist overview

	Medical Coding Technician	Reimbursement Specialist
Yearly salary	$35,307	$38,273
Hourly rate	$16.97	$18.40
Growth rate	11%	11%
Number of jobs	67,197	32,292
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 30%	Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	12	12

What does a medical coding technician do?

The job of a medical coding technician is to assist in the management of insurance claims, payments, and invoices. Your day-to-day duties may include reviewing claims data to ensure that the assigned codes meet the insurance and legal rules, understanding the diagnosis of patients and medical procedures that have been performed, and extracting information from documentation such as the name of the physician and the date of the procedure. Additionally, abmedical coding technician also follows up with patients and insurance firms regarding outstanding bills.

What does a reimbursement specialist do?

A reimbursement specialist is responsible for analyzing insurance documents, processing reimbursement claims, and releasing accurate billing statements for insurance claims. Reimbursement specialists must have excellent analytical skills, especially on performing clerical tasks to evaluate insurance cases, investigate cases, and update the account information of the clients on the database. They should also have impeccable communication skills and understanding of the insurance processes to be able to coordinate with the clients, explaining the procedures of their claims accurately, and coordinate with the insurance management to improve the claims processes.

Medical coding technician vs reimbursement specialist salary

Medical coding technicians and reimbursement specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Medical Coding Technician	Reimbursement Specialist
Average salary	$35,307	$38,273
Salary range	Between $28,000 And $43,000	Between $29,000 And $49,000
Highest paying City	-	Lynchburg, VA
Highest paying state	-	Virginia
Best paying company	-	Novartis
Best paying industry	-	Pharmaceutical

Differences between medical coding technician and reimbursement specialist education

There are a few differences between a medical coding technician and a reimbursement specialist in terms of educational background:

	Medical Coding Technician	Reimbursement Specialist
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 30%	Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Most common major	Health Care Administration	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Medical coding technician vs reimbursement specialist demographics

Here are the differences between medical coding technicians' and reimbursement specialists' demographics:

	Medical Coding Technician	Reimbursement Specialist
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 15.3% Female, 84.7%	Male, 15.2% Female, 84.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 17.1% Asian, 8.6% White, 59.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3%	Black or African American, 9.8% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 16.9% Asian, 8.1% White, 59.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between medical coding technician and reimbursement specialist duties and responsibilities

Medical coding technician example responsibilities.

Manage health records while applying ICD-10 coding to update and process insurance claims for time and accuracy to various insurance companies.
Assign appropriate ICD-9-CM and CPT-4 codes in compliance with recognize coding principles and department policies.
Remain current on medical coding guidelines and HIPAA laws and regulations.
Reconcile clinical notes, patient encounter form, and health information for compliance with HIPAA rules.
Audit ROI program quarterly to ensure deadlines are completed and proper procedures for legal and personal requests are followed.
Train team members in all ROI processes, make independent decisions base on the provisions of these privacy laws and regulations.

Reimbursement specialist example responsibilities.

Manage the EDI clearinghouse rejections.
Process department payroll, order supplies, and manage petty-cash funds.
Manage use of various systems, such as MEDITECH, Cerner, WebNow, and yield-base follow-up tool.
Manage cases by aggressively directing the litigation process.
Negotiate fee structure for manage care contracts on acute and rehabilitation facilities.
Research medical coding ICD-9, ICD-10, HCPCS and CPT-4 to let client know the outcome of medical claim.

Medical coding technician vs reimbursement specialist skills

Common medical coding technician skills

Medical Billing, 14%
Data Entry, 12%
Front Desk, 10%
CPC, 9%
ICD-10-CM, 7%
Transcription, 6%

Common reimbursement specialist skills

Patients, 20%
Customer Service, 9%
Appeals, 6%
CPT, 5%
Medicare, 4%
Medicaid, 4%

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Healthcare Practitioner and Technical Industry
Medical Coding Technician
Medical Coding Technician vs Reimbursement Specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

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