A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry


Billing and Coding - MMouse


Posted: Apr 11, 2011

I have a stupid question.  When I finished my MT course with Allied Medical School, I then found out they are NOT (federally) accredited, they do not assist you in finding positions, and they do not assist in helping you become certified.  In other words, I felt that I wasted all of that money.  As a newbe I was unable to find a job.  I started apprenticing with a company, paid their $500 fee for software, and after 8-9 months, found they had changed their name.  Apparently, they were getting some bad input on various websites.  After all of that, I am finding that most MTs are loosing their jobs because of outsourcing.  I was looking into billing and coding because I may be able to transfer my credits from MT to the billing and coding degree.  Now I am told by a couple of sources that with the new wave of government programs, etc. that Drs will soon be coding all of their own medical bills and just like the MTs become obsolete in 3 years or so.  What is your experience and knowledge?  Is medical billing/coding going to be a dinosaur in a couple of years?  I am 62 so it makes no sense for me to go for a 3+ year degree and end up with student loan debt out the wazoo!!!!

I'll see if I can answer part of your questions - See message

[ In Reply To ..]
I was waiting and hoping someone else wiser than me would answer your question, but I'll give it a try. You've waited long enough.

I don't think your question is stupid at all! I think it's a very important one that lots of people face.

First, medical transcription schools need to be "Approved By" AHDI, which is intended to make sure the school has qualified instructors, an adequate curriculum, appropriate training materials, etc. Being federally accredited means they have signed up to receive federal financial aid for students, Pell, Guaranteed Student Loan Program, etc., and they check for financial stability. That is not necessarily indication of whether it teaches you what you need to learn.

I'm not familiar with the school you mentioned, so I don't know whether they are Approved By AHDI or not. You said that you were unable to find a job and had a really bad experience. You got into a sleazy apprenticeship program, probably with a company infamous for cheating people. Your school should have warned you about those places, unless they referred you to them. The fact that they had you PAY MONEY, is a giant red flag. There is a company that fits your description, which changes its name regularly to avoid lawsuits, etc. I don't know if it's the same one or not.

Now to the coding part of your questions, people say lots of things. Coding is probably going to be around a long time, in one form or another. The way we do it will change over time, as it always has. However, it is absolutely necessary for you to go through a program that prepares you for certification, as a CCS or a CPC. Different kind of credentials. Find out which of those the school you are considering prepares their students to take. If they don't know what you're talking about, politely excuse yourself and go elsewhere.

Just like with medical transcription, your ability to do the work is more important than anything else. It doesn't take a degree to get your coding credentials, and you can get your coding credentials in a year or so. It doesn't take 3+ years.

You asked about age. That always bothers me because age discrimination is supposed to be illegal, but is it? We don't know where you will be applying to work or if the person in charge of hiring is age biased or not, so we can't answer that question. I can say that the knowledge you'll have as you train to be a coder is always a good thing.

I'll stop here and let someone else jump in. Good luck with your decisions!

about age... - cj

[ In Reply To ..]
I just read somewhere, I think an AHIMA journal article about ICD10, that the average age for a coder in the US right now is 45-48 years. If that is the average, then you know there are a lot of "older" working coders.

Billing and Coding - MMouse

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you for your responce. My thinking with obtaining certification to be a B/C was it could be work I could do even if I was completely disabled "bodywise". As long as my brain and fingers worked, then it did not matter how much of my body was rebuilt with titanium! (Currently, I would have trouble with TSA -- shoulder, knee, and soon to be hip.) I have spoken with National American University and have been told that they prepare you to take your certification. The other colleges want 3+ years (and $40,000) and want you to go into a classroom. (Until my hip is replaced, walking is a challenge.) That would put me at age 66 and $40,00 in debt with the potential of working (maybe) another 10+ years. I am one of the unlucky ones who got caught with the mess in our economy. All that I had to live on in my "golden" years is gone. I cannot fathom being $40,000 in debt at a time when I should be "enjoying life" after working since I was 16 years old!

As long as B/C is not going to go the way of MT, it is something I feel I should pursue. What I had been told was that the government is giving grants, etc. to drs to use something like a "superbill" and they would be doing their own coding making the B/C position obsolete. I am sure at some point, probably within the next 10 years, this will come to pass, but at least I will let me work for another 6-8 (or more) years!
You know what I would do? - see message
[ In Reply To ..]
I would not only ask if the course prepares students for certification exams, but if their graduates have been successful in taking those exams. This is important. It's something they will be able to answer. They will know if their graduates tend to pass those exams or not. As you are talking with them, are they knowledgeable about what these exams are like, or are you just talking to a salesperson? This is your future, so don't be shy about asking.
Billing and coding - Curious coder
[ In Reply To ..]
First of all, you do not need to spend $40,000 to learn how to code, people get 4-year degrees for that price. There are a number of good affordable distance learning programs which won't put you into debt that you can complete in a year or two and you will ready to become certified when you finish. I work for an outpatient facility where some coding is done by the providers from a superbill but it still requires a staff of coders to review, correct errors, assign modifiers, etc. Inpatient coding is not going anywhere, IMO. Pursuing another career would depend on how long you plan to work. I hate to say it, but finding a job at 65+ when you finish a program might be a challenge.

You're talking about medical front office, not coding - Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
You seem to be equating coding with medical front office billing, because that is what you are describing when you talk about doctors coding their own medical bills and using some kind of superbill. This isn't going to be anything NEW -- they do it now and have done so for years. That's why coders don't usually aspire to those kinds of jobs--those jobs are just clerical work.

You got sucked into poor MT decisions, and now you're heading down the same road again. Please educate yourself on what coding really is. The two main organizations that credential coders are the American Health Information Management Association and the American Association of Professional Coders. Do the research yourself on their websites to find out what coding is, what education looks like, and what credentials are required.

For what it is worth, coding training can be accomplished in about a year for less than $4000. But, if you are disabled and unable to work at an employer's site, you should not consider coding. There are very few at-home jobs in coding right now and they almost always require experience.

If this IS what you want to do, consider getting funded by an agency that retrains disabled persons. They may pay for it and subsidize an employer for giving you a job.



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