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Newbie here! Considering to become a medical biller/coder, have a few questions

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Billergirlnyc:
I agree with Linda about the trilingual aspect. I speak 4 languages fluently and it's always been helpful for me, especially when I was a biller working in the office. Even when I started my own company. I don't see it as a necessity, but it's always good to be bilingual, especially in a world that's becoming more diverse and competitive. We offer collections services to our clients and are licensed and bonded in NY and several of my collectors are bilingual.

Even when you're primary job is coder, sometimes you work for smaller doctor, and you'll need to not only be the coder, but the biller, and the collections person too.  That's when things like being bilingual, etc come into play, because you'll often have direct contact with patients. There are so many scenarios where being bilingual and or trilingual is helpful in the healthcare industry.

I think Linda also gave you advice about maybe getting a job working for an insurance carrier, they'll certainly like that you speak more than one language, as most tend offer help in at least Spanish.

PMRNC:

--- Quote ---Roused my curiousity.  Does anyone know - can a doctor get a medical license in the U.S. if he cannot speak and write English?  And - are there Practice Management Systems / Billing software programs out there for sale in the U.S. that have the CPT and DX codes loaded into them in a language other than English?  Until now, it never occurred to me that these would exist, but maybe they do.  If billing software in a language other than English does not exist in the U.S., then being multi-lingual as a biller or coder (rather than front office desk) would be useful only if the doctor was writing in a language other than English.  Here there would be a need for someone to translate other-language chart notes into English billing codes.
--- End quote ---

I think being multi-lingual is helpful but OUTSIDE the scope your referring.. For foreign physicians to receive a license in the US they do have to take a test on the English language, so YES they must speak and write English: http://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/before_you_apply/imgs.asp#English

RichardP:
Thank you.  That's what I thought, but suddenly realized I wasn't certain.

International medical graduates (IMGs) comprise one-quarter of the U.S. physician workforce.

From here:

http://www.ecfmg.org/about/index.html

Helped a guy from Romania in the mid-80's.  Drove him from Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia to take the ECFMG test.  Flunked it twice.  That helped him stop complaining that he was a doctor in his own country but only a nurses aide in this one.

PMRNC:
I don't know.. I only have my own rule.. If I can't understand my doctor.. I'll find another one.

amberevans:
I agree with MOD. There are plenty of doctor out there who require services. You are not going to adapt for everyone.

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