How Much Does a Medical Office and Billing Specialist Make?

Key Insights:

• Medical office and billing specialist wages can vary based on geographic factors such as the state you work in and even whether you work in an urban or rural area.
• Other factors that can influence your pay as a medical office and billing specialist include your level of education and experience, and whether you have any relevant certifications.
• Employment in this field is projected to increase, making it a good time to enroll in a medical office and billing specialist program if you’re interested in this career path.

If you’re thinking of pursuing a medical office and billing specialist role, you may be wondering what this position pays. At Ultimate Medical Academy (UMA), we believe in providing our adult learners as much information as we can to help them decide their career path. So, here we do a deeper dive into medical office and billing specialist wages, including factors that can affect how much a person in this role might earn.

What a Medical Office and Billing Specialist Does

Medical office and billing specialists perform office duties for healthcare facilities, including those associated with patient billing and, in some cases, certain aspects of medical coding. These professionals might work behind the scenes or have face-to-face interactions with patients; some may even work from home.

Medical Office and Billing Specialist Pay Varies by Location

A medical office and billing specialist’s wages can vary based on where they work geographically. Some states may pay someone in this position more on average, for instance, while others might have a lower wage rate.

A medical office and billing specialist’s wages can also vary depending on the population of the area in which they work. People in urban areas (cities and metropolitan areas) have traditionally earned higher wages than their counterparts in rural areas — and the gap is getting wider.¹

How to find medical office and billing specialist pay for your area

To learn more about how much medical office and billing specialists can make in your area, check out local job posts to see what they pay for this healthcare role. This will give you a better idea of what you could earn if you pursue this career path.

It may also be helpful to check out online pay information resources. For instance, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) includes medical office and billing specialists in the occupational category of secretaries and administrative assistants. Looking at the BLS’s medical secretary and administrative assistant pay information can help you learn about national wage information.

Other Factors That Can Impact Medical Office and Billing Specialist Wages

The wages for a medical billing specialist aren’t just affected by the state or area in which you work. They can be impacted by a variety of other factors as well, some of which include:²

• Your level of education
• How much experience you have
• Your skillsets (whether you have the key skills required)

Having a professional certification may also affect your earning potential.³ One certification that medical office and billing specialists might pursue is the Certified Billing and Coding Specialist (CBCS) credential.

Medical Office and Billing Specialist Job Outlook

If a medical office and billing specialist’s job duties are appealing to you, you might be curious about more than this role’s wages. You may also wonder whether the demand for professionals in this healthcare role is growing or declining.

Although the job outlook for secretaries and administrative assistants as a whole is projected to increase by 1% between 2023 and 2033, the BLS expects positions for medical secretaries and administrative assistants to increase by 5% during this same time.⁴

This is due to healthcare industry growth that is, in part, from baby boomers needing more medical services as they advance in age. This causes healthcare entities to have a greater reliance on medical office and billing specialists for seeking reimbursement from Medicare and other forms of patient insurance.

Ready to Pursue Training for a Career in Medical Office and Billing?

If you’re ready to pursue training, Ultimate Medical Academy offers two medical office and billing specialist programs:

• A Medical Office and Billing Specialist program that can be completed in 11 months or more⁵
• A Health Sciences – Medical Office and Billing Specialist Associate of Science / Associate of Applied Science Degree program that adds general education and elective courses, and can be completed in 18 months or more⁵

Each of these is available online, providing flexibility and convenience for learners with other work and home obligations.⁶ Both also include courses that cover important topic areas such as medical terminology, medical billing, and healthcare reimbursement.

Why choose UMA for your healthcare education?

UMA has been in healthcare education since 1994, helping more than 100,000 alumni pursue their career goals. We’re institutionally accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES.org) and strive to offer our learners a high level of support, not only while in school but also long after graduation, such as by assisting with their job search and possibly connecting them with one of our employer partners.

If you’re not sure whether medical office and billing specialist is a good career path for you, UMA also offers a Healthcare Career Quiz designed to provide programs that may be a good fit based on your interests and personality. No matter where you are in your life, UMA is here to help you achieve your healthcare career goals.

FAQs

• What is a medical office and billing specialist? Someone in this role performs administrative or office tasks for healthcare organizations, such as scheduling patient appointments and answering phones, in addition to having job duties that involve billing insurance companies, patients, and other responsible parties for services performed. You can learn more about this role in our blog, which does a deeper dive into medical office and billing specialist job functions.
• How can I find out how much medical office and billing specialists make in my area? Look at local job posts to learn what employers near you pay. You can also look at online salary information sites that allow you to add in your location. To get a basic idea for this role in general, governmental sources like the Bureau of Labor Statistics supply national wage data for medical secretaries and administrative assistants, which is the category in which medical office and billing specialists fall.