Billing Clerk: What is the cost of hiring?

Why hire a billing clerk?

Hiring a billing clerk can be a great way to support your business in various ways. A billing clerk can assist other administrative team members and use their billing knowledge to answer patient’s questions. Other contributions of a great billing clerk include:

• Accurate medical billing
• Assisting patients with insurance questions
• Organizing billing invoices

Deciding between a full-time vs part-time billing clerk

Before writing a billing clerk job description or interviewing candidates, it’s important to decide if you need a full-time or part-time billing clerk (and what your budget will allow).

Start by assessing your business’s needs. For example, how many customers/patients are making payments each day? If the number is on the higher side, you may need a full-time billing clerk to process all of these payments. However, if you’re just starting out and this number is lower, try starting with a part-time billing clerk to see if that meets your staffing needs.

What are the different types of billing clerks?

When hiring a billing clerk, it’s important to understand the specific kind of billing clerk you need for your business. Billing clerks often specialize in different industries, including accounting, healthcare, restaurants, retail or automotive. Here are some of the most common types of billing clerks to help you find one that meets your needs:

• Bookkeeper: Responsible for handling the books or general ledgers for small businesses. Many small businesses hire a bookkeeper to help with day-to-day accounting tasks, especially if they can’t afford a full-time accountant. 
• Billing specialist: Typically one level higher than a billing clerk, responsible for overseeing the status of accounts, resolving inconsistencies, managing payment databases, etc.
• Medical billing clerk: Collects payments from patients, prepares and submits claims or invoices and validates insurance coverage. Typically requires knowledge of current procedural terminology (CPT) codes.

Where to find billing clerks

To find the right billing clerk for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Get referrals: Ask your personal and professional network if they know anyone who would be a good match for your billing clerk role.
• Post help wanted signs: Create eye-catching help wanted posters and hang them in your business’s window or door to attract more billing clerk candidates.
• Recruit at local colleges: If you’re hiring a part-time billing clerk, attend career fairs, distribute flyers and post on college job boards to attract college students looking for part-time work. 
• Post your job online: Try posting your billing clerk job on Indeed to find and attract quality billing clerk candidates.

Skills to look for in a great billing clerk

A great billing clerk candidate will have the following skills, attributes and work experience that reflects:

• Firm understanding of medical billing (if applicable)
• Experience with insurance payments
• Experience working with sensitive information
• Strong organization skills
• Attention to detail
• Professionalism

Writing a billing clerk job description

A thoughtful description is important for finding qualified billing clerk candidates. A billing clerk job description should include a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your billing clerk job description, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on billing clerk jobs, according to Indeed data:

• accounting
• data entry
• accounting clerk
• billing
• clerk
• billing clerk
• administrative assistant
• accounting assistant
• medical billing
• office clerk

Interviewing billing clerk candidates

After you’ve reviewed the resumes of your top billing clerk candidates, ask meaningful interview questions to gain insight into each candidate’s experience, skills and education. Strong candidates for billing clerk positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

• Their methods for staying productive and on task
• Experience with insurance companies
• Their process for billing

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of billing clerk interview questions for examples (with sample answers).