Top 10 Medical Billing and Coding Companies in the US for 2026

2026 is shaping up to be another challenging year regarding healthcare practice finances. With payers now deploying AI to automate denials, coding guidelines growing more complex, and persistent staffing shortages, many providers are turning to medical billing and coding companies to gain a strategic advantage. 

‍

But with dozens of vendors competing for attention, finding the right partner requires more than a quick Google search. This guide cuts through the noise. We profile the top 10 medical coding and billing companies operating in the US for 2026, giving you a practical checklist for evaluating any vendor on a demo call.

‍

Whether you run an independent practice, a multi-specialty group, or an ambulatory surgery center, our article will help you shortlist the right partner for your organization. As one of the most comprehensive comparisons available today, this Pharmbills guide is built to save you time and reduce vendor selection risk.

Related Services

Explore how Pharmbills supports healthcare providers with Outsourced Medical Billing Services.

Why 2026 Is Different for Medical Billing and Coding Outsourcing

The operating environment for medical billing and coding outsourcing companies has shifted significantly heading into 2026. Four key forces are reshaping how providers evaluate and select vendors, as explained below.

1. AI and Automation Have Raised the Bar

Payers are using artificial intelligence to scrutinize claims and automate denials at scale. Providers need billing partners who can match that sophistication with AI-driven claim scrubbing, predictive denial analytics, and automated eligibility verification.

2. Staffing Shortages Persist

According to MGMA Stat polls, 53% of medical group leaders identify finding candidates as their top staffing challenge, with some reports indicating that turnover in revenue cycle roles has reached as high as 40%. The bottom line is that finding certified coders and experienced billers domestically remains difficult and expensive.

3. Payer Scrutiny and Denial Pressure Continue to Climb

Denial rates have been trending upward since 2022, with Experian Health data showing 41% of providers now report initial denial rates exceeding 10%. Prior authorization requirements have become more complex, and documentation standards are tighter than ever.

4. Compliance Expectations Are Evolving

HIPAA enforcement is more aggressive, and CMS continues to update billing requirements and quality measures. Providers need partners who treat compliance as a core capability, not as an afterthought.

About This Guide

This guide is designed to help independent practices, multi-specialty groups, ambulatory surgery centers, long-term care facilities, and behavioral health providers evaluate outsourced medical billing and coding support. When researching the top outsourced medical billing companies and coding services, the companies on our list are the vendors most commonly cited by industry analysts.

‍

We cover medical billing and coding companies suitable for small, medium, and large providers. Companies needing an enterprise-level solution that also includes comprehensive revenue cycle management (RCM) services may be better served by our list of the Top Revenue Cycle Management Companies for Healthcare Providers in 2026. 

Further Reading

For more information on billing and medical coding services, please see Medical Coding vs. Medical Billing: Understanding the Core Differences.

How We Ranked the Best Medical Billing and Coding Companies

Selecting the top medical billing and coding companies in USA requires looking beyond marketing claims. Our evaluation framework considered these dimensions:

• Coding capability assessed ICD-10 coding, CPT coding, and HCPCS coding expertise, specialty coverage depth, coder certifications (AAPC and AHIMA), and coding audit/coding compliance audit processes. 
• Billing performance examined denial management/denial prevention workflows, accounts receivable (A/R) follow-up practices, claims management, billing KPIs (clean claim rate, days in A/R, denial rate), and charge entry accuracy. 
• Compliance and security evaluated HIPAA-compliant medical billing controls, data encryption standards, and SOC 2 or HITRUST certifications where applicable. 
• Technology and integrations looked at EHR and integration and practice management system integration, reporting and analytics capabilities, automation tools, and patient payment features. 
• Commercial fit considered pricing model transparency, contract flexibility, onboarding timelines, and service level agreements.

‍

No paid placements or sponsored listings are included. Our list of top 10 medical billing companies and coding services were selected based on documented capabilities, market presence, and suitability for specific provider segments.

Additional Insights

For a deeper look at billing costs, see Medical Billing Rates & Fees: How Much Does Medical Billing Service Cost in 2026?

Quick Comparison Table: Top 10 Medical Billing and Coding Companies (2026)

This comparison table lets you see the top medical coding companies and outsourced billing providers at a glance, with detailed profiles of each vendor in the following section.

Deep-Dive on Medical Billing

For more on why outsourcing billing makes sense, read Reasons to Hire a Medical Billing Specialist: Key Benefits.

The Top 10 Medical Billing and Coding Companies in the US (2026)

Below are detailed profiles of the top outsourced medical billing companies and coding vendors shaping the healthcare sector this year. The list includes a balanced mix of combined platform-plus-services providers, pure outsourcing firms, and coding-focused specialists.

1. Pharmbills

Best for: Healthcare organizations of all sizes seeking dedicated, cost-effective outsourced billing and coding teams that integrate directly into existing workflows.

‍

Services: Medical billing, medical coding (ICD-10, CPT, HCPCS), accounts receivable follow-up, claims audit, payment posting, eligibility verification, prior authorization support, denial management, and provider credentialing.

‍

Strengths:

• Proven financial impact. A Pharmbills client operating 97 nursing home facilities saved over $5,000,000 in just 9 months after a senior accounts payable officer identified widespread outpatient claims errors and led the creation of a dedicated claims audit function.
• Rapid, scalable hiring. Pharmbills has demonstrated the ability to help organizations onboard up to 25 professionals per month, supporting one client to achieve 300% business growth over two years, with 90+ outsourced team members added.
• Zero workflow disruption. Offshore and/or nearshore staff work directly within your existing systems, so there’s no platform migration required. This makes Pharmbills an ideal complement to any EHR or practice management system already in place.
• Dedicated retention and quality programs. Unlike traditional outsourcing models, Pharmbills provides a consistent team that’s dedicated to its clients’ success. The proprietary Key People Project, led by Pharmbills' customer success management team, focuses on retaining top talent through appreciation programs, proactive issue resolution, and mentoring structures that include team leads and captains.

‍

Potential drawbacks: Pharmbills focuses on people and process rather than proprietary software. Organizations looking for a combined EHR-plus-billing platform will need to pair Pharmbills with their existing technology stack. This is by design, as it allows full control and flexibility.

‍

Questions to ask on a demo:

• What does your onboarding process look like, and how quickly can a dedicated team be operational within our existing EHR? (Pharmbills typically begins onboarding within weeks, but timelines vary by team size and system complexity.)
• Does our Pharmbills team own the full denial lifecycle, or do we retain that in-house? (Clarify whether denial identification, appeal drafting, and resubmission are included or scoped separately.)
• What reporting do we receive on team performance, and how is coding accuracy and billing KPI accountability structured? (Ask about clean claim rate tracking, A/R aging reports, and whether a dedicated customer success manager reviews metrics with you.)

2. athenahealth

Best for: Independent and ambulatory practices wanting an all-in-one clinical and financial platform.

‍

Services: Cloud-based EHR, practice management, medical billing, certified coding support, prior authorization, denial management, and patient engagement.

‍

Strengths: athenahealth states it leverages network intelligence from over 150,000 providers to continuously update its rules engine, which claims to contain over 40 million payer-specific rules. The platform was ranked #1 Best in KLAS 2026 for Practice Management (11–75 physicians) for the fourth consecutive year, helping to secure its spot as one of the top medical billing companies in USA.

‍

Potential drawbacks: The RCM service is tightly coupled with athenahealth's EHR. It is generally not a standalone billing solution for organizations using a different electronic health records system. Pricing runs 4–8% of collections.

‍

Questions to ask on a demo:

• Our practice includes [specialty]. Does your rules engine cover our payer mix, and will coding support extend to our specific CPT/HCPCS requirements?
• When a claim is denied, does your team manage the full appeal and resubmission cycle?
• What are the actual percentage-of-collections tiers for a practice our size?

3. AdvancedMD

Best for: Small to mid-sized practices wanting cloud-based billing with strong automation and ease of use.

‍

Services: Practice management, EHR, medical billing services, claims scrubbing (ClaimInspector), reporting, and patient engagement. Note that AdvancedMD does not include medical coding services, so an in-house coder or third-party coding partner is required.

‍

Strengths: The ClaimInspector module can run approximately 3.5 million edits per claim, and the company reports an organization-wide first-pass claims rate of nearly 100%. AdvancedMD earned best-in-class honors for medical billing and patient engagement from SelectHub.

‍

Potential drawbacks: Does not provide coding, which limits its appeal as a full-service outsourcing partner. May not be compatible with all specialties, particularly physical therapy and behavioral health.

‍

Questions to ask on a demo:

• Since AdvancedMD does not include coding, how do your billing services integrate with a third-party coding vendor or our in-house coders?
• Walk us through how ClaimInspector flags and resolves errors. What percentage of edits require manual review versus automatic correction?
• What does your pricing structure look like for a practice our size, and are EHR, practice management, and billing services bundled or priced separately?

4. NextGen Healthcare

Best for: Multi-specialty and mid-sized practices seeking integrated EHR and practice management with strong coding tools.

‍

Services: EHR, practice management, medical billing, coding optimization, claims scrubbing, in-line edits, and population health management.

‍

Strengths: NextGen Healthcare offers AAPC, AHIMA, and specialty-certified coding specialists for compliance audits. Their NextGen In-line Edits feature uses a specialty-specific rules engine to edit billing before claims creation, reportedly eliminating 75% of the need for coding review. The Ambient Assist AI tool converts doctor–patient conversations into structured SOAP notes with ICD-10 coding suggestions.

‍

Potential drawbacks: As NestGen Healthcare is primarily a software platform, organizations needing fully outsourced billing staff will need a separate service partner. Implementation and customization can be complex for smaller practices.

‍

Questions to ask on a demo:

• How do the In-line Edits and rules engine handle our specific specialty? Show us an example of how a coding error in [our specialty] would be caught and corrected pre-submission.
• If we need outsourced billing staff alongside NextGen's platform, do you have preferred service partners, or is that entirely our responsibility?
• What does a typical implementation timeline look like for a practice of our size, and what ongoing support is included after go-live?

5. CureMD

Best for: CureMD is one of the top 10 medical billing companies in USA for independent practices wanting an affordable, all-in-one EHR and billing solution with outsourced RCM options.

‍

Services: Cloud-based EHR, practice management, RCM billing services, medical coding, denial management, eligibility verification, and MIPS compliance support.

‍

Strengths: CureMD reports a 99.9% claim acceptance rate and claims to help practices get paid up to 35% faster. The platform claims to support over 30 specialty-specific workflows and includes AI-enhanced claim scrubbing with detailed KPI dashboards.

‍

Potential drawbacks: Best suited for small to mid-sized independent practices. Larger health systems or organizations with complex, multi-entity billing may find the platform limiting.

‍

Questions to ask on a demo:

• Can you demonstrate the AI claim scrubbing workflow for our specialty, and what is your measured denial rate reduction for practices similar to ours?
• Explain how your RCM billing service scale if we add providers or locations. Does pricing adjust automatically, or does it require a contract renegotiation?
• What MIPS and quality reporting support is included, and how does your platform help us track compliance against CMS requirements?

6. Tebra (formerly Kareo)

Best for: New and small practices seeking easy-to-use billing software with optional managed billing services.

‍

Services: Practice management, EHR, claims tracking, managed billing through third-party affiliates, patient engagement, and financial reporting.

‍

Strengths: Tebra serves over 42,000 practices and is recognized for exceptional ease of use and claims tracking transparency. The rules engine scrubs claims using network-wide learning, and the platform achieved high claim accuracy scores in third-party testing.

‍

Potential drawbacks: Tebra does not directly handle billing services. It connects practices with third-party billing affiliates, which introduces a layer of variability in service quality. In general, the platform is better suited for standard workflows than complex specialty billing.

‍

Questions to ask on a demo:

• How do you vet and match us with a third-party billing affiliate, and can we interview or evaluate the billing partner before committing?
• If we have an issue with the assigned billing affiliate's performance, what is the escalation and replacement process?
• What visibility do we have into claim status and billing performance in real time, and how does the reporting compare if we self-manage versus use managed billing?

7. AGS Health

Best for: Health systems and large physician groups needing high-volume, specialized medical coding outsourcing with technology support.

‍

Services: Facility and professional fee coding, coding compliance audits, clinical documentation improvement (CDI), A/R management, patient access services, and analytics.

‍

Strengths: AGS Health employs over 12,000 college-educated, AAPC and AHIMA-certified RCM professionals and processes more than $50 billion in A/R annually. Named a Leader in Everest Group's Medical Coding Operations PEAK Matrix Assessment.

‍

Potential drawbacks: Primarily serves large organizations. Independent practices or small groups may find the engagement model and pricing structure oriented toward enterprise-level volumes.

‍

Questions to ask on a demo:

• What is your coder certification mix for our specialty, and how do you handle ongoing education when CMS releases code updates mid-year?
• Walk us through your coding audit process. How frequently are audits conducted, and what quality benchmarks trigger a corrective action?
• What are your minimum volume requirements, and is pricing structured per chart, per FTE, or as a blended model?

8. Access Healthcare

‍Best for: Access Healthcare is a top choice for hospitals, health systems, and medical billing companies requiring large-scale RCM outsourcing with process automation.

‍

Services: Medical billing, coding, claims management, denial management, A/R follow-up, patient access, payment posting, and robotic process automation.

‍

Strengths: Access Healthcare operates from 20 delivery centers with a workforce of 27,000+ staff, processing over $70 billion in A/R annually across 80+ specialties. Their proprietary Echo process automation platform claims to have deployed over 3,500 virtual bots across service verticals.

‍

Potential drawbacks: Designed for scale. Smaller practices may not meet minimum volume thresholds, and the enterprise-focused model may feel impersonal for organizations accustomed to boutique-style service.

‍

Questions to ask on a demo:

• How does your process automation platform (Echo) integrate with our current systems, and what tasks are handled by bots versus human staff?
• For our volume and specialty mix, what does the dedicated team structure look like?
• What SLAs do you commit to for claims turnaround, denial resolution timelines, and A/R days, and what happens if those targets are missed?

9. GeBBS Healthcare Solutions

Best for: Health systems and health plans needing coding-intensive outsourcing combined with AI-powered workflow technology.

‍

Services: Medical coding (facility, pro-fee, risk adjustment, HCC), coding audits, A/R management, denial management, and clinical documentation improvement.

‍

Strengths: GeBBS operates a global workforce of 14,000+ professionals and codes over 5 million charts monthly. Their proprietary iCode Workflow platform leverages AI, machine learning, and NLP, reportedly achieving 96–98% coding accuracy with 45–55% improvement in chart turnaround times. Named a Leader in Everest Group's RCM Operations PEAK Matrix Assessment and recognized on the Inc. 5000 list for fifteen consecutive years.

‍

Potential drawbacks: Strongest in coding and HIM services. Practices seeking a full-service billing-plus-coding outsourcing partner may need to pair GeBBS with a separate billing vendor for comprehensive coverage.

‍

Questions to ask on a demo:

• What percentage of our chart types would be handled by your iCode autonomous coding engine versus human coders, and how is accuracy validated for AI-coded charts?
• We need [facility/pro-fee/risk adjustment] coding. Can you show us client outcomes and accuracy rates specific to that chart type?
• If we only need coding and not billing, how does your engagement model work?

10. CareCloud

Best for: Multi-specialty practices wanting a cloud-based platform with tiered RCM service options ranging from self-service to fully managed.

‍

Services: Practice management, EHR, medical billing, coding, denial management, credentialing, patient engagement, and telehealth.

‍

Strengths: CareCloud offers three service tiers, including its fully outsourced Concierge RCM option. The CollectiveIQ engine embeds advanced automated billing rules into the claims workflow, and the company reports a 94% first-pass claims rate. Concierge pricing of 3–7% of collections is competitive for full-service outsourcing, making it one of the top medical billing companies USA.

‍

Potential drawbacks: Upfront costs may be prohibitive for very small practices. The breadth of platform features can feel overwhelming without proper onboarding support.

‍

Questions to ask on a demo:

• Can you break down what is included at each service tier, specifically what denial management and coding tasks are covered in Concierge versus the self-service plan?
• How does CollectiveIQ's claim scrubbing engine learn from our specific payer mix over time, and can you share denial rate benchmarks from practices in our specialty?
• What does the onboarding process look like if we are migrating from another PM or EHR system?

Compliance Considerations

For an overview of compliance considerations when outsourcing, check out HIPAA Compliance in Medical Billing: A Comprehensive Guide.

‍

How to Choose Among Top Medical Billing Companies in the USA: A Practical Checklist

Identifying the top 10 medical coding companies and billing services is only the first step. Once you have a shortlist of vendors, you’ll need to arrange demos and interview them and evaluate whether they can meet your needs

‍

In addition to the vendor-specific questions in the previous section, you can use this general checklist to structure your vendor evaluation calls and demos.

• Specialty fit - Does the company have documented experience in your specialty? Ask for client references in your exact care setting.
• Denial workflow ownership - Who owns the denial management process end-to-end? What is their current denial overturn rate?
• Reporting cadence and transparency - What KPIs are tracked (clean claim rate, days in A/R, denial rate)? How frequently are reports delivered, and can you access dashboards in real time?
• Claim scrubbing and coding accuracy - What tools or edits are applied before submission? What is the measured coding accuracy rate?
• Patient payment handling - Does the vendor manage patient statements, payment plans, and collections?
• Credentialing support - Will they handle payer enrollment and CAQH re-attestation?
• Onboarding timeline - What is the realistic go-live timeline, and what does the transition plan look like?
• Contract and pricing clarity - Is pricing percentage-based, per-FTE, per-chart, or hybrid? Are there setup fees, minimum terms, or early termination penalties?

‍

Red flags to watch for: Vague or undisclosed pricing structures, no service level agreement, absence of a coding audit process, unclear data security posture, or reluctance to provide client references in your specialty.

FAQs About Medical Coding and Billing Companies

What is the difference between medical billing and medical coding? 

Medical coding translates clinical documentation into standardized codes (ICD-10, CPT, HCPCS) used by payers to determine reimbursement. Medical billing takes those codes and manages the entire claims lifecycle, from submission through payment posting and denial resolution. Many outsourcing companies handle both, though some specialize in one or the other.

‍

What pricing models are common for outsourced billing? 

The three main models are percentage of collections (typically 3–10%), flat fee per claim or per FTE, and hybrid arrangements. Percentage-based pricing aligns vendor incentives with your collections, while flat-fee models offer cost predictability. The right choice depends on your claim volume and financial goals.

‍

Can I outsource coding only? 

Yes. Companies like AGS Health and GeBBS Healthcare Solutions specialize in coding-only engagements. This works well for organizations that have strong billing operations in-house but need help with coding backlogs, specialty coding, or compliance audits.

‍

What specialties benefit most from outsourcing? 

Specialties with complex coding requirements tend to benefit most, including behavioral health, radiology, orthopedics, cardiology, and skilled nursing. However, any practice struggling with staffing, high denial rates, or aging A/R can see significant improvements from outsourcing.

‍

How long does onboarding typically take? 

Speed of onboarding is an important measure of the top medical billing companies in US. Timelines vary by vendor and engagement scope. Software platform implementations may take 30–90 days. Outsourced staffing models like Pharmbills can often begin onboarding dedicated team members within weeks, with full ramp-up in 30–60 days, depending on team size.

Medical Billing and Coding Companies: Key Takeaways

The top medical billing and coding companies in 2026 span a wide range of models, from all-in-one software platforms to dedicated outsourcing partners and coding specialists. The best fit depends entirely on your organization's size, specialty, technology stack, and operational priorities.

‍

Our advice for most providers is to start by shortlisting three vendors from this guide. Run demos with each, using the checklist above to evaluate specialty fit, denial workflow ownership, reporting transparency, and pricing clarity. Be sure to validate every claim a vendor makes by asking for references in your care setting.

‍

For organizations looking for a flexible, cost-effective outsourced billing and coding team that works within your existing systems, contact Pharmbills today to discuss how our dedicated teams can support your revenue cycle goals.