Outsourced Medical Coders

Medical coders are responsible for translating medical professionals’ reports into useful and uniform medical codes. They also extract information from documentation, test results and reports to assign the appropriate codes to create a claim to be paid by insurance carriers. They can also analyze medical malpractice claims to identify issues, events, diagnoses and procedures that resulted in the action. Medical coders are also known as clinical coders, clinical coding officers or diagnostic coders.

The global medical coding market is estimated to reach U.S. $30.06 billion by 2026, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.61%⁽¹⁾. This is largely driven by the effects of the global pandemic and automation in recording patient data.

A common challenge for businesses in any industry, including healthcare, is sourcing quality employees. The same can be said for hiring quality medical coders. A solution; outsourcing.

A large number of medical coding tasks can be completed online, which makes them well-suited to being performed in an offshore environment. As long as your business is offshore ready, outsourcing medical coders to the Philippines is simple and cost-effective.

What are the benefits of outsourcing medical coding tasks?

Cost savings: by hiring an offshore medical coder(s) to support your local team with repetitive and time-consuming tasks for a fraction of the price, due to the lower living costs in the Philippines, you can save up to 70% when compared to hiring locally.
Increase in output efficiency and quality levels: sending routine medical coding tasks to an offshore team in the Philippines means your onshore team will have more time to take on higher value, strategic work. Your business will notice a drastic increase in productivity levels.
Business growth and scaling opportunities: when you send your time-consuming tasks to an offshore medical coder in the Philippines, your local team will have more time to focus on increasing profits and business growth and development opportunities. The additional capacity that your onshore team gets from your offshore team's support means you can grow your business sustainably.

What qualifications, skills and experience make a successful medical coder?

Medical coders need to have strong organization skills to systematically coordinate data from various sources. Allocating improper alphanumeric codes to different diagnostic medical procedures can be detrimental for healthcare professionals and their patients, so attention to detail is necessary. Computer software and system literacy is a must for medical coders as they constantly go between different software programs when entering data and diagnosis codes. An in-depth understanding of medical terminology will allow for easy procedural and diagnostic code assignment.

In terms of qualifications and education, a degree or certificate in health care administration or health sciences is desirable but not necessary. The role's requirements come down to more of the soft skills and computer literacy of each medical coder.

Medical coding roles can be categorized by years of working experience:

Entry-level or junior: less than 2 years of medical coding experience, either supervised or unsupervised. Tasks completed could include analyzing patient records, recording all the relevant information, organizing documents and becoming more familiar with medical terminology.
Intermediate: 2-4 years of medical coding experience. Tasks completed could include reviewing junior medical coder submissions and codes, ensuring healthcare facilities comply with clinical coding guidelines and carrying out periodic audits of patients’ medical charts.
Senior: 4+ years of experience in medical coding. Tasks completed could include training other healthcare professionals on clinical coding practices, assigning and sequencing all codes for services rendered and performing quality assurance audits.

What tools and systems do medical coders need to be successful in their roles?

Tips for employing Filipino medical coders

Your medical coders must know your business's systems and software to provide the best level of support for your business and clients.
It’s key to communicate effectively and efficiently with your talent acquisition team in the Philippines, making sure to let them know the job requirements, skills and qualifications you require of your ideal medical coder(s). This will help the team to source the right candidates, streamline the recruitment process and ultimately, assist in finding the best fit candidates for your needs.
You can recruit as many medical coders as required from project to project and can even hire senior medical coders in the Philippines to manage your offshore teams. If/when you grow your offshore team to several staff, having one team lead can ensure streamlined communication and project updates are effectively delivered to your onshore team.

Reference:
1 Insights on the Medical Coding Global Market to 2026

Sample medical coder profiles

SKILLS

Inpatient medical coding includes liaising with physicians and assistants to ensure codes are accurate and ready to be converted into a medical billing claim
Translating diagnosis and medical information into codes using CPT, ICD-10-CM and HCPS Level II classification systems
Electronic Medical Record solutions experience
Transcribe physician dictation and charts into written medical reports
Setting up payment plans for patients
Knowledge of medical terminology
Knowledge and understanding of privacy legislation
Administrative support
Excellent verbal and written English skills
High attention to detail

PREVIOUS ROLES

Medical Coder
Medical Transcriptionist
Administrative Assistant

SKILLS

Medical coding and audits
Home Health coding and OASIS review experience
Handling patient billing phone calls
Billing/following up insurance claims
Understanding of insurance guidelines
Experience handling insurance referrals and pre-authorizations for patient procedures
Knowledge of medical terminology
Knowledge and understanding of privacy legislation
Excellent verbal and written English skills

PREVIOUS ROLES

Medical Coder
Clinical Data Coordinator

Interested in recruiting team(s) in the Philippines?

Since our inception in 2006, MicroSourcing has become one of the biggest providers of offshoring solutions in the Philippines. We can help you build a dedicated team in the Philippines, regardless of the roles and level of specialization you require. MicroSourcing is backed by our parent company, Probe CX, one of Australia’s fastest-growing offshoring solution and customer engagement firms. So, it’s safe to say we’re experts in outsourcing to the Philippines.

Call +1 888-731-0023 today or send us an email to discuss your company’s offshoring needs.

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Outsource Medical Coders to the Philippines

Outsource and employ experienced medical coders in the Philippines