I've thought about coding. My DH does medical coding and I think with an MT's medical termino

background and anatomy and physiology knowledge, a transition into coding wouldn't be hard at all.  From what I can tell by looking through my husband's books, an MT would have to learn insurance regulations and legalities.  We've basically got all the medical background down or we should be if we're worth our salt as an MT.

I even contacted AHIMA and found that the qualifications for taking the CCS or CCP coding exams are completion of the a coding program, RHIT program, or RHIA or related work experience.  Transcription is part of HIM, albeit the red-headed stepchild of the HIM department, but a part nonetheless and so satisfies the qualification of having work experience.

The test is tough though.  My husband didn't pass it his first time out and I think I read something like only 20% or so pass it the first time.  So it would probably be best to take some sort of formal coding class, in my opinion.

• Sick of transcribing after 5 yrs, any suggestions? - Would like something in related field
  • another field - sunny
  • I've thought about coding. My DH does medical coding and I think with an MT's medical termino - KYMT
  • i've thought - sm
    • Cannot dictate for MDs - ke
      • Will it is true that not just anyone can dictate - Not true
      • I worked for a doc . . . - GI MT

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Use the link below that I wrote a few months ago.  It is a very honest review of today's coding needs and environment.  Good luck!

http://forum.mtstars.com/company/v/1/13589.html

Needing a better job than the one I've got, I've been spending my late nights searching the far reaches of the internet.  It seems the only MT jobs that will actually support a person are in-hospital jobs, and the few that still exist are rare, and difficult to find.  They're definitely not listed on our Job Board, that's for sure.  When I do find them, they all seem to be part-time, or too far away, or involve heavy phones.   Answering phones and transcription are NOT compatible activities!

So I keep seeing LOTS of ads for Coders.  Obviously that would mean school.  Ick.  Being the hater of school that I am, I would want to be sure that's what I wanted to do, so I thought I'd see what all of you think of Coding as an alternative to MT work.

-  Have any of you worked in coding before, or are you currently in school to learn that profession? 

-  How hard would it be for a late-middle-aged MT to learn? 

-  Do you think coding is worth spending time in school to learn?  (i.e., Decent pay, not about to be offshored, etc.)

-  If you've done it or are learning, do you LIKE it?  Is it interesting?  Tedious?  Stressful?  Boring?  Rewarding in any way?

-  Are you learning it on-site, or at home?  How many hours per day are you devoting to your studies?  How long does it take to get credentialled?

Thanks in advance for any input you may have on this subject!

alliedschools.com

Has anyone tried either their medical billing or coding training courses??

Did you like it, would you recommend it?? I'm tired of working at a restaurant and would like to learn a career but I just want make sure that I am learning from a school that will actually lead me somewhere(specially that it cost 1600 dollars)

So please let me know what you think about them and if there is other schools that you will recomment over them!

Thanks

My husband is curious and wanting to get into Medical Billing/Coding and work from home like I do with transcription.  Does anyone know of a website, like this one, that offers so many jobs from home and information regarding coding and/or billing?  Thanks.  Also, if anyone has input on this please let us know.  Would love to find out which course is the best, etc....thanks!

but someone told me that coding is going the way of MT too, being outsourced and such, so I am not sure it would not be a lateral move.  There seem to be lots of ads in Advance magazine for coders, so perhaps it is still a hot field.   The Andrews school offers an at-home training course, and also offered this web site for more information on coding as a career:  http://www.codernet.com

Hope this helps.  Good luck!

Step by Step Medical Coding by Carol J. Buck along with the workbook that goes along with it.  So while I'm trying to decide on a school, I can be studying on my own.  According to the AHIMA website though with my years of experience as an MT, I am eligible to take the certification exam without having to complete a formal coding course.  Transcription is considered part of the HIM department and thus if you have worked in any position in HIM, you are qualified to take the test.

So, I may find that studying on my own will benefit me better than paying money for a course I'm not sure about.  I also have the benefit of tuition reimbursement with my employer and I may take advantage of that if I find a program I like.

So, I'm with you!  Let me know what school you decide on or what avenue you decide to take.  Might help me make the decision in the long run!

and Tessier's The Surgical Word Book, 3rd edition.  Books you could buy used I would say would be Stedman's Pathology and Lab Medicine and Cardiology/Pulmonary word book.  These are all the books I use the most during my day.  You could buy other speciality word books as you need them and could probably go used with those.

I wouldn't bother with buying a drug book, new editions come out every year and I just stick to the FDA website and RXList as my drug references.

Also FYI, not a book, but I use my Stedman's Electronic Medical Dictationary a lot.  It's easier to open the program than it is to pick up a huge 30-pound dictionary.

I have been thinking for quite a while about getting into coding.  Are there any MTs here who are also coders?  Are there any reputable "on-line" coding schools?  I really would like to do this.  27 years is enough.  If anybody knows about this, feel free to e-mail me.

Thanks

I used to work in a Doctor's office and do coding, electronic insurance billing, statements.  I loved it, but I had to quit because of my kids.  If my kids were older, I would still be doing it now.  I fell into coding when I was a Medical Assistant and it lasted 16 years.  Maybe I will get into it again when the kids get older. 

As far as any online schools that good, I don't know.  But what I can tell you is from my experience, working from an office or hospital is the best place to be for coding!!

I will try to be brief (please don't think me curt but there is much more I could say that I just don't have time to go into).

First to be a professional coder, you will need to be nationally certified.  There are 2 national organizations that provide proctored certification.  The first was AAPC and has an excellent program for both office-based and hospital-based coding certifications.  You can do the home program or find a company who provides classroom instruction and testing.  Either route will cost you about $1500 and about 3-4 months investment.  The other national is AHIMA.  You would need to look at their website to find the details for them, as I did not utilize them.  They cater more to people who are already in the field and need certification.

Because AHIMA's umbrella covers more than just coding, hospitals tend to give more credibility to their credentialling, but since AAPC set the standard and has the largest number of members, they have to be doing something right.  Both companies require prior coding experience, personal recommendations and membership in their organization.  If you have no previous experience, they have apprenticeship programs.  The CEUs to maintain your certification is about 20 per year with each organization.

Your investment in resources to perform your job is greater than in MT.  You will probably need a lap top and several programs to perform your job if it is not provided by an employer.  You can be a consultant if you can't get a job as a coder.  You could get additional certification and become an instructor and teach.

The next issue is home versus on-site work.  Some MT companies are beginning to combined MT and coding into their at-home programs; however, if you have no experience and no liability insurance and no support network, you could find yourself out of a job if you cannot produce quantity and quality quickly.  Finding a on-site coding position is difficult without experience unless you get lucky and find an office to give you a chance.  Many, many times your best bet to find a job is by networking through your local national's chapter or showing exceptional talent in the classroom setting and getting a referral from the instructor.

Coding is different from MT in that you are held liable by the federal government if you make a mistake.  Yes, the doctor is ultimately responsible, but the wording in the law states that the person who submits the bill is as guilty as the provider.  There are monetary and jail time penalties - and how much of each depends on how well you can prove it was accidental because the government assumes the fraud was intentional unless proven otherwise.  Better have insurance.  Because of this law, that is why you are seeing a greater need for certified coders...hospitals in particular do not want to expose themselves to the liability of the Office of Inspector General with unqualified personnel.

I got a coding auditor position on the outpatient side of a hospital.  I went to the clinics and performed audits of the previous quarter for every doctor at each clinic.  I scored everything, compiled reports, provided education to the doctors who failed the audits, provided monthly ongoing education and a coding hotline for daily unusual circumstances.  I was paid about $20/hr which was the low end of the spectrum for a hospital employee.  Physician offices tend to pay $12-15.  When I relocated to a different part of the country, I could not immediately find a coding position, so I went back into MT.  It took another year before I found a management company where I could code, but by then I needed to return back across the country due to family issues...and I let my certification lapse and continued with MT.

what is the best way to get into coding?  I have thought about an online course. 

I have experience in medical billing for 12 years and transcription for four years and I am also going back to school to pursue coding and take the national exam to get my CPC.  Coding is the new future as this transcription business is falling apart everyday.  It is so hard to make a decent wage.  These National companies are indeed a sweat shop taking advantage of the DR’s and paying us a pathetic price.  I make 12 cents a line working for a local physician, but I have lost 4 doctors already due to outsourcing.  I am running fast back to school because I think in the next couple years there will be VR everywhere.  What a shame to such a good profession.  This is just because someone was a little bit too greedy.

Good luck with coding. 

I am taking a continuing education class through my college for 8 months with medical terminology, which I really do not need as I have enough of that, but I am sure it will not hurt, and anatomy and physiology plus the coding.  I have also heard of the Carol J. Buck books and I am also going to purchase them once they come out in the first of January.  I heard these are good books.  I am one of those persons that needs someone to teach me and do better than trying to read out of the book and doing it on my own, but the Carol Buck book would not hurt as an addition.  This is the way to go for me as I have been burned too many times in this transcription industry in the last four years.  It is a shame it is like this way.  There is too much negativity.

I've actually thought about coding as well.  I was an ART/RHIT so I've done a bit of it and liked it, but I liked transcription better.  That was then; this is now.  If HHS would ever stop messing about, the US would start using ICD-10 like the rest of the civilized world.  This is very different from the current ICD-9-CM, so even experienced coders will have to take classes.  Some of my coder friends say they would consider retirement at that time.  Perhaps it would be our opportunity to make a switch. 

Airline job, huh?  I hope he means Southwest because the old major carriers aren't doing well.  I do wonder about Sir Richard Branson's new Virgin America, though.  Of course, maybe you'd get free/reduced fare miles and the paid vacation time to spend them on as part of the benefit package.  Got anywhere you'd like to go?  Taking son along is optional. (she smiles)

Coding is similar to MT.  It can be sent out to a service (Medquist does coding, too) which means it can be sent overseas.  There are computer programs for coding whose developers think will eventually be able to be used by clerks with no training in coding at all.  There are interesting benchmarks for productivity in coding:  Number of charts per day, inches of chart per day, money amount cleared from AR.  There's a lot of pressure in this line of work, too. Still, it might be around longer than MT, and from an administrative standpoint, it is a money-maker since how soon and how much the provider is paid depends on the speed and accuracy of the coding.  You do have to watch out for bosses who want you to illegally *upcode* to increase reimbursement. 

To get hired and move up, you really need to have one of AHIMA's many coding credentials behind your name, and their tests are tough!  I wouldn't mess with on-line classes.  Look for a junior college or college that has an RHIT/RHIA program.  They may have a coding certificate as well.  If the US ever gets around to adopting ICD-10, it may be a good opportunity to get into coding because this version is quite different from the current ICD-9-CM.  Even established coders are going to have to learn a lot of  new stuff. 

I was an inpatient coder.  I liked it, but I'm sure it's changed a low now. Back when I did it we had to read through the charts and try to decipher the physician's handwriting when no reports were available and it ruined my vision.  We also had the stress of the hospital chain I worked for trying to get us to code up to a more expensive diagnosis, whether the patient had it or not.

My husband went to school for it a couple of years ago and aced the course, but nobody would hire him because he had no experience actually doing it, so the course was an absolute waste of money.  Most placed want credentials too.  Unless you are willing to donate your time for free at a local hospital to get some experience, it's hard to break into now for new people.

There is a definite advantage to being an MT and switching to coding.  I found a course through an adult education course (excellent course and virtually free except for the books) and it was great.  It is difficult and very technical, more than just assigning numbers to diagnoses but I liked it.  The thing is, at least from where I am (So Cal), I would have had to take a huge cut in pay to take an entry level position, work into coding, apprentice, and then once certified, then the potential for earnings is there.  Also, I think you really need to have a lot of experience before you can do it from home.  I can't take any kind of step backwards in pay or I'd be pursuing it.  Who knows, maybe I still will.  I just want to alert everyone to check their adult education programs, ROP, and local colleges first before paying a lot for this education.  Good luck!

I don't know if the course is good or bad but personally I would not recommend that anyone take any of the training for medical "work-at-home" jobs.  I expect that shortly all coding will be done electronically and it should be easier to implement than VR.  I think people are going to have to get used to paying a babysitter and commuting to a workplace if they expect a paycheck.  There are jobs that will allow at least some flexibility, even some that are family friendly.