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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Future of medical coding is good

Posted By: sam on 2008-04-01
In Reply to: Is the future of coding... - Barry Wattss

Medical coding is very lucrative career. Medical coders are not only required in hospitals but also in pharma industry and clinical research. Know more about coding ..
http://medicalcodingindia.blogspot.com/


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Not-so-good news re: medical coding,
I was watching the news tonight (Sacramento, CA area), and there was a story about a lady who was looking for work.  She had spent $10,000 on a coding/billing education, but can't find work.  Apparently that field is "saturated", as the newscaster said.  (Maybe from lots of MTs trying to get into that?)  Anway, I had sort of been thinking about going to school to learn coding, but now I think I'll pass.
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.


Is the future of coding...
as bleak?
Coding the future
I think you are doing the right thing by learning coding, that is definitely the future and people say that MTs do well at it.

Pharmacy tech is very low paid, at least in my area.


future of medical transcription?

I have been doing transcription now for a while, under five years, for a national.  How long do you all think it will be until it is a completely a speech recognition technology? My national is definitely trending towards the speech recognition and I just wonder how long it will be until it is totally that platform, and before hospitals and other nationals as a whole start using it mainstream.  Medical editing doesn't seem like it will be very lucrative as transcription has been in the past.


future of medical transcription?

I have been doing transcription now for a while, under five years, for a national.  How long do you all think it will be until it is a completely a speech recognition technology? My national is definitely trending towards the speech recognition and I just wonder how long it will be until it is totally that platform, and before hospitals and other nationals as a whole start using it mainstream.  Medical editing doesn't seem like it will be very lucrative as transcription has been in the past.


Medical coding

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


Medical Coding
Hi, I've been an MT for 9-1/2 years working at home and am in need of a change.  Am looking for a good coding class that won't send me to the poor house and that you can actually FIND A JOB when certified.  Is that possible?  Does anyone know some good schools and how much experience you must have before you can work at home doing coding?  Thanks to anyone who replies.
There's medical coding and billing.
nn
Are any of you familiar with medical coding? - sm


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!


 


medical billing or coding newbie

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


I am completing a medical coding course with Andrews right now (sm)
and I highly recommend them. The tuition is steep, but they allow you to pay in monthly installments, so that makes it a lot easier. The quality of the course is excellent, and I really think I'll be able to pass the certification exams once I finish the course. The only complaint I have is that they are slow in responding to emails about tests, questions, etc., but other than that, I would recommend them. Good luck.
Go into coding more ## or the legal end of the medical for an attorney
JMO
Is medical coding a dying profession like MT?
My income is in the crapper and keeps getting worse and worse. I love working at home, been doing it for over a decade, so looking into something I can do at home. So what about medical coding? Offshore problems? Technology advances pushing out the "real person" coder? Any disadvantages? Worth learning and getting into at this point?
Does anyone know of a website, like this one, that deals with Medical Coding/Billing..sm

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!


I will quit also...I'm hoping to get into doing something else, such as medical billing/.coding
n
Good grief, back to the future. nm
x
That was a nice, uplifting post. Good luck to you. I am 49 and a little scared of the future. SM
My DD is in college, 25 YO son moved back in with me after losing his job. I feel stressed, not making the money I used to make. You have made me feel hopeful today.
Andrews has a coding program, & its reputation is as good as their MT course.
.
I should have specified, hospital inpatient coding and doc office coding are very different.
They follow different coding rules and an entirely different set of codes. I learned both while earning my B.S. in H.I.M., and both are challenging, though inpatient more so simply because there are more codes.
Honestly, you could get a job in a med rec dept without ANY certificate; some computer experience and your experience as an MT would get you in the door. It might just be doing chart assembly/completion, filing, etc., but there are certainly jobs in MR that don't require specific schooling. Then being in the dept you can really learn more about all the functions and pick the one you REALLY want to spend time, money, and effort on for additional schooling.
Your QA needs to get a good medical dictionary. SM
I've been an MT for a long, long time and I have never heard of anything so ridiculous. 
need a good online medical dictionary
that I can use without having to download it because I'm not allowed to download anything and I can't intall my stedman's. 
What's a good source for very new medical terminology? sm
I'm wanting to avoid paying for a $95 subscription to something like The Latest Word, if possible. Is there a web site that posts new medical drugs and other terms that are so new they haven't hit the books yet?

thanks!
Can anyone tell me of a good medical search engine? nm
nm
Does anyone have a good medical acronym website? tia nm
nm
What are good Medical Transcription Schools?

The response I got when asking about the credibility of MTAtHome.com wasn't very good.  So now I'm wondering, what are some good Medical Transcription schools that you can do online.  I'm looking for an online program.  Can anyone send me in the right direction?  I definately don't want to be jipped by a school that is not credible, which will then affect whether I get employment or not.  Thanks for your responses.


-Hunter DuRant


Actually, its not that good, try this one. Google it: Medical Transcription: What's in it for y
x
Looking for a good medical spellchecker that doesn't cost as much?

Is everyone just using spellex or stedmans or are there lower cost alternatives? 


How did you find them in the first place?  Just curious because I don't want a cheaper product to act cheap also.


Any ideas?


TIA 


A good site for searching medical abbreviations.

Check the link below.  A really cool site to search for medical abbreviations.


Does Anyone Know of A Good Medical Spell Checker For Word?
Hello,

I am new to these boards and I am curious If anyone knows of a good medical spell check for Word? TIA :)
Also need good medical spell checker, new system here
because IT person this morning could not install Stedman's and when we contacted the company also told our company using the old version and did not go with my new computer. Anyone help.........
Does Anyone Know of A Good Medical Spell Checker For Office 2007?
Hello all! I am new to these boards :) . My husband bought me a new computer with office 2007 installed on it for Christmas :). I was curious if anyone knew of a good medical spell check for Office 2007. Thanks In Advance!!!
Doesn't matter 1 iota if it is a medical report.She probably wouldn't know a good MT if 1 bit
the butt - that was my point.
A good website to search for medical terms, equipment, and drugs.
A good site for word help.
Anyone know if coding would pay as well as MT? Is coding being outsourced too?
xx
I would buy new a Dorland's Medical Dictionary, Stedmans Medical and Surgical Equipment...SM

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.


Medical Transcription In The Era Of Electronic Medical Records
EMR has revolutionized the healthcare industry in recent times. Many experts felt that EMR & Voice Recognition would totally replace Medical Transcription - however; the industry soon realized that transcription has certain advantages over point & click charting and many physicians preferred to dictate notes rather than document the data at the point of care themselves.
future of VR
My personal opinion is that for now only some companies will use it but eventually it will become more predominant like all technology, i.e., cassettes to mini-cassettes to C-phones, etc.; as well as manual typewriters to electric to memory typewriters to computers. It seems to be something people either love or hate, but I do believe it is here to stay, though not take over.
Future-Net - NM
X
In the future you should try
doing a catchy flyer with pertinent info and faxing it. This works much better. Most of your mailers probably went in the trash without being opened. If you do a flyer, try using phrases like -will beat your current Transcriptionist rate- you WILL get calls. You can bargain from there.

I have a friend who works in a doctor's office and a drug rep gave them a list of phone numbers and fax numbers for all physicians in the area. If you can get one of these, just go down the list and fax 10 or 15 back to back at a time. I got several calls.
MT future
I have ben doing transcription for 7 years and ASR editing for about 6 months. From what I see, it will be a very, very long time before it is perfected. Honestly, transcription has not been lucrative for me in the past and although pay is slightly lower than transcribing, I have not seen much of a diffence to my bottom line.
MT future
sorry about typos, been a long day!
future
unfortunely, seems to work well for radiology...hospital probably a safer bet for future work.
there is editing needed, but personally would rather type thanlisten and correct. and many self edit anyway.
no future in MT
I agree. Itis the same old crap everywhere you go. Lousy pay, no raises, etc. I've worked for several agencies and it is only same old routine.
since i'm not sure about the future of MT

I've gone back to school as well.  I'm completely torn as to what I want to do, i'm back and forth, and the past two years have been taking courses for nutrition and psychology, and cannot decide between the two.  When I was a soph in HS I knew I wanted to do something with psychology,  but here it is 15 years later, when I've decided to go for it, and its just brutal, the studying, the work on top of a full time job.  I SOOO wish I would have just started 15 years ago, in that direction. I've always had a full time job and moved out at a young age, so just took the technical college route and learned MTing. 


 I'm looking at about 10 years of college because I can only go part-time, to be a clinical psychologist.  I'm thinking of just going for the nutrition.  I love working with food, time flies when i'm in the kitchen and I love watching people enjoy what i've made.  I just know its a stressful job, you're on your feet a lot, and its more about speed than anything.  I went to the library today and bought a book "can you stand the heat" all about the working conditions of a chef.  I know I do not have it in me to be in school the next 10 years, i'm sorry, maybe if I were independently wealthy and could just focus on that.  Becoming a chef will take less than three years.  I will do MT'ing as long as its around though, as I enjoy working independently.


Go to the library, there are books that fit your personality type with a specific job, and then a list of the pros and cons, the money you would make.  Just really research it.  If its what you want to do the rest of your life, make sure its something that will make you happy. 


Future-Net
I do work for Future-Net and this is what they do. 
I'm sure your future will be
xx
Is there a future for me as a IC MT...
Hello!  I'm new here but any advice would be welcomed.  I haven't worked as a full-time MT in nine years.  Mostly I've done Pathology at a hospital in Las Cruces, NM.  I would like to get back into the MT field so I've purchased the SUM Advanced CD, which I am currently working on, and 19 practice dictation tapes from "Absolute Experience".  I have also just started a workbook entitled, "The Language of Medicine."  After I've finished all this, is there a future for me as an independent contractor MT?  This is really the only job that pays well that I can do from home.  Please let me know your thoughts.  Thanks in advance!  Shelley  P.S.  I took a test this week through a company called StatIQ in Albuquerque and I was surprised that I scored 94% (since it has been so long).  However, you must score 98% to secure a job.
Why not? Don't you think that even future - sm
programmers, code writers and technical engineers are warned that a lot of U.S. work is being sent to other countries?
Future Net
No YOG - Your Office Genie was sold to MQ.  FutureNet had most of the old YOG employees.  I quit because I did not want to work for MQ.
Might try it in future...
but for 30 years have done my straight-8 on 2nd shift, 3-11 or thereabouts. I'm up at the crack of dawn and love having the daylight hours to be outside and get so much done. I will admit that some nights typing can be sOOOOOO long, though.