American Medical Billing Association
The American Medical Billing Association (AMBA), located in South Central Oklahoma, was founded in September, 1998, by Cyndee and Larry Weston, who are providers of billing and consulting services to doctors and other health care providers. . The association was organized so that medical billers from across the nation could network, share information and ideas, educate, and support each other.[1]
Services
The association is the largest association in the nation that provides education and credentials to independent, third party medical billers. Currently there are around 6,000 members, and twelve local chapters nationwide.[2] The association is an approved vendor of the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC), a medical coding association.[3] Medical billers can become certified through the AMBA by passing the Certified Medical Reimbursement Specialist (CMRS) Exam which is the highest standard certification for medical billers.[4] In order to maintain this certification, billers have to obtain continuing education units (CEUs) each year, which they can obtain from s medical billing or medical coding courses, seminars, conferences, or magazine subscriptions.
American need for medical treatment is growing. By 2030, the amount of Americans over 60 will become twice from 33 million to 72 million. As the demographics becomes inclusive of a larger percentage of old age, the requirement for increased healthcare becomes more demanding. By 2020, the amount of yearly doctor appointments is projected to increase by 52 present. Therefore the above statistics is a sure indication about the huge surge in the health care related services offered by the providers, which translates as more work for coders and billers and as more and more (old) people seeking medical treatments increases by the day , so that means a lot of primary data for medical services, diagnoses, and medical claims need to be processed as quickly as possible for better claims settlement electronically. Thus we can see the growing importance for medical billing and coding professionals whose contribution is going to be even more important in the coming days.
Production and involvement in the medical billing community
All products, except billing software, offered in the association's online store are created and published by the association. The Association has been quoted in notable publications such as the American Medical News (AM News), Medical News Today, and Modern Healthcare.[5] Over the past two years, its members lobbied to initiate what is now known as National Medical Billers Day, which has been officially recognized by several states on Thursday of the last week in March each year.
References
- ↑ Archived February 7, 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "Medical Billers To Celebrate Official Day Of Recognition On March 27, 2008 - USA". Medical News Today. Retrieved 2015-12-24.
- ↑ "Medical Coding Pre-approved Vendors for Continuing Education Units (CEUs)". AAPC. Retrieved 2015-12-24.
- ↑ Archived February 25, 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "Claims processors see rejections spike with NPI - Modern Healthcare Modern Healthcare business news, research, data and events". Modernphysician.com. 2008-05-29. Retrieved 2015-12-24.