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Has anyone ever gone through Allied School for coding? Other school recommendations? - CMT

Posted: Jun 24, 2014

I was wondering if anyone has ever gone through Allied School in California for billing & coding. If so, how was your experience? Were you able to find work in coding after finishing the course and getting your certification? I have been a medical transcriptionist for the past 10-11 years and am now looking at getting into coding. My best friend and I are going to take a course together. If you wouldn't recommend Allied as a school, who would you recommend? I did look at Career Step, but they are much more expensive. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

You get what you pay for... - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
In my experience. I would highly recommend Andrews School. They are close to $4000 for the coding course, but I have heard good things and high praises about them and even have considered going through Andrews myself.

Know what you want to get out of it. - CT

[ In Reply To ..]
There are so many things to weigh before selecting a school, and cost should be only one of many.

You need to know what you want to get out of it. Are you looking to work inpatient or outpatient? You'll need to find a school that sways whichever way, AHIMA v AAPC. Are you going to go for a specific credential or multiple? Are there employers in your area willing to work with you on an apprenticeship or are they looking for only "experienced" coders? Do you want to make coding your long-term plan or are you looking into offshoots, such as consulting or others? If so, what sorts of education experience/work experience will set you along that path?

It might be worth calling around to see what your potential employers look for in new hires before you commit to one school over another, and like others I'm sure will continue to mention. You get what you pay for, and more importantly, you get what you're willing to put into a program out of it.

Good luck! There are lots of opinions here about many of the schools.

Right, you get what you pay for. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
What you might not know is that schools teaching "coding" are not all teaching the same thing. Some teach only to the CPC exam, or only outpatient coding such as that in physician offices. Others teach both that and inpatient hospital coding.

Some don't have instructors at all and others don't have certified coders as instructors. Coding is not easy to learn under those circumstances, regardless of how many people in the office there are to make you feel you are not in it alone.

Decide what type of job you want, the certifications you need for that, and go from there. Be aware that not everyone passes the CPC, that about 25% of those who do can't find a job, that your chances of employment may be aided by an AHIMA credential (both now and later when you want to work for a coding company) and that AHIMA exams have eligibility requirements. You can't even qualify to sit for their exams with the course you are contemplating. Â

You get what you pay for.

Exactly. Please be careful! would hate to see in a mountain of - debt and no job

[ In Reply To ..]
I have friends that have completed local programs and cannot find jobs because they have no experience. Even my mother in law took a local course and couldn't find a job. it is SO HARD to get a job in coding especially if you haven't passed a certification and it sounds like the the program you are considering won't help you in the least. As a MT right now being trained through my company to do coding I will tell you it is a different world. You may think because you are an MT coding will be a breeze and you will snap up a job. that is simply not true. You have to understand, coders are the moneymakers for facilities and they have to be extremely selective so they can file as many claims as possible. Coding is not cut and dry, you have to know what you are looking for and that takes experience, which is why it is extremely difficult to get a job in coding. Even certified coders have a tough time getting a job if they have no experience.

I am not saying all of this to discourage you. I'm just suggesting you weigh all of your options. With what I know now if my company was not training me to code with a guaranteed job I would never, EVER do this on my own. It's simply too risky. At least if I went back to school for nursing or HIM it would be relatively easy to find a job.

I will wrap it up by saying this: I started back to college last year, got my associates and will be working on my bachelor's in the fall. Even though i'm training to be a coder. Why? I want the security in having a degree in something hands on. I guess I have PTSD when it comes to MT, I don't want to just rely on something I can do online. It was unfathomable years ago the MT industry would be where it is today. Don't think the same thing can't happen to coding.

the wisdom of taking a course with your best friend - Kathy

[ In Reply To ..]
Just keep in mind you will be competing with your friend for a job after you are done. How will it affect your relationship if you both apply for the same job and one of you gets it?

I'm not at all concerned about that - SM - CMT

[ In Reply To ..]
I would be doing coding in addition to my MT job, so it's not like I would be desperate for a job right out of school. If she were to land a coding job before me, I would be happy for her and I know it would be the same if it was the other way around. We are grown women and have been best friends for 13 years. We are supporting each other, not competing. Also, there are boat loads of coding jobs in our area. We actually called one of the local hospitals yesterday to ask what they look for in coders and they gave us a lot of great information. They told us that while they do prefer people with at least a year or two of experience, they will absolutely consider someone who is certified. There is quite a shortage of certified coders in our general area. They said they are almost always looking for certified coders, so we know that there are jobs available.

Also, I do fully realize that coding is a completely different world and is nothing like MT. I already own the ICD books as well as CPT Plus and Comprehensive Health Insurance, which I have already started reading, so I am fully aware of what I'd be getting into.

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