News from the World of Medical Billing and Coding

In honor of National Consumer Protection Month (yes, that’s a real thing March 3-8), Gerry Detweiler at Credit.com penned an interesting article that is pertinent to anyone studying medical billing and coding or considering a medical billing and coding course as a new career.  In the article which you can read in its entirety here, Detweiler discusses how errors in medical billing and coding (none of which are made by Allen School alumnae) can be very difficult to straighten out for a consumer who is being billed mistakenly.   Unlike credit cards and other forms of consumer credit which must comply with Federal consumer protection laws, medical offices are not bound by law to provide documentation when disputes are lodged.  The author calls for some form of legislative intervention to provide a legal framework for medical billing and coding, similar to that in place for consumer creditors.  Of course, even if such a new Federal law were imposed, it would be of little notice to doctors and hospitals that employ medical billing and coding pros trained at the Allen School or Allen School Online.