Agree with Susan & Thomas. I have hired coders who have zero experience working AR, claims and edits and they found it very difficult to learn and perform even though they may have been very adept at coding. It's a totally different skill set as Thomas described. It is very helpful if coders know and understand the claims cycle, edits and AR but it all depends on the way the employer is set up. In a very large hospital system it doesn't make sense to mix these roles, in my opinion. Coders need to code. In my early experience as a coder coming from an AR and billing background, I found it very difficult to be pulled from concentrating on coding to be asked to go work claims and follow up on edits even though I was experienced at that and could do it.
I think it depends on the practice/health system. In smaller places coders may have multiple responsibilities. I have seen coders be tasked with appeals and AR follow up as well as working clearinghouse edits. In others, coders perform what you describe as "straight coding" only. In others, coders are expected to be "data-entry" type billers who just check over what providers submit but don't actually "code from scratch".
In looking for a role I feel it's very important to ask these questions of the prospective employer. If I was on the provider coding side, I would not want to be an "edit cleaner" or just work modifiers or something like that. You want to have an understanding of how they have their teams set up and the exact duties to make sure you are a good fit. It's not wrong to ask these type questions of the employer. While you may be asked to help out another team or act as a subject matter expert every once in a while, if you don't want to perform AR, billing, denials, etc. you should make that clear.