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How are coders paid? - Sue

Posted: Jul 15, 2011

I am going to apply for the coding program at my local community college. I have just finished the required prerequisite courses. I have been a transcriptionist for 30+ years and am having to start over at 60. Could you please tell me if coders are paid by the hour or are they paid piece work? I'm also wonder if you think there will be jobs to be had after going through school. Thanks!

Coders - Inside Info

[ In Reply To ..]
Don't know exactly how they're paid but had a discussion with an CPA/management guy with a major hospital chain the other day and he said Coders, unlike transcriptionists, are well paid and have good job security. If you can become a coder, by all means go for it. The reason they are so valued is the good ones maximize profits for the hospital with their coding.

Pay and Availability of Jobs - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Most coding jobs are on-site and salaried. They almost invariably have productivity and accuracy requirements, possibly with a graduated set of standards associated with increasing pay and or employee rank. They may also pay a bonus for exceeding those standards. Jobs with contract coding companies may pay by the case or encounter, but does not result in sweatshop situations. In fact, it enables highly productive and accurate coders to achieve excellent salaries.

There is a salary survey on the AAPC website. If you have not already done so, you should review that before you do anything else. There is also one on the AHIMA website.

Jobs are available in coding, since there is a shortage of coders. The upcoming move to ICD-10 in late 2013 is expected to result in a lot of coders leaving the field and a surge in available jobs.

How the job market will look for you, personally, could be great or it could be poor, depending on your college. A lot of college programs teach to the CCA credential, which many employers consider to be a "hire me so I can learn on your time" sort of thing, when they'd prefer someone who already learned it and proved it by passing the CPC and/or CCS exams. You might want to ask local employers if they have hired that program's graduates and in what capacity. Ask if they are confident enough in the program to give you a job now with the expectation that you'll be ready to work when you graduate. You can also ask the school, but be careful if the answers indicate placement in jobs that are not actual coding--it doesn't count if the job is medical assisting, billing, front office, receptionist, etc.

salaried - jm

[ In Reply To ..]
I disagree that most coding jobs are salaried. I have yet to see a coding job in my area that is "salaried" unless you are coming in as a manager. Is that true for anyone else out there?

I agree - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Coders in my area are paid by the hour. I live in a fairly small city, 60k people, and the average pay for a coder here is about 16 bucks an hour. This is a very good wage for where I live.

Definitions - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Let's not argue about what a salary is. Merriam-Webster: Salary--Fixed compensation paid regularly for services

What I am trying to communicate is that the coding industry does not pay like the MT industry. There has been no effort in the coding industry to turn payment into sweat-shop piecework paid by the line or character, nor has there been widespread flimflam redefining people as ICs or whatever in order to avoid benefits, taxes, SS, and Worker's Comp payments.

Most entry-level coders are employees with hourly pay and overtime, but huge numbers of coders work in jobs that are exempt from FLSA without being management. There are also jobs that do pay by the piece or which pay a base rate plus incentive, but total compensation is usually excellent because only highly qualified and productive coders get those types of jobs--they aren't entry-level. You also see contracts and consulting.

Whether you divide their pay into hours, or look at it by the month or year, most coders have jobs in which they are paid for the amount of time they spend working. They are employees who work a full 40-hour week or part-time.

Thank you - jm

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you for the clarification. I'm sure you don't want to mislead. There is a common understanding when people read the word salaried.

I only have been seeing "salaried" coding jobs - From Where I Am

[ In Reply To ..]
I haven't seen anything other than "salaried" coding jobs.

Really? - jm

[ In Reply To ..]
I am surprised. I want to move to where you are. I'm in the northeast, where are you? Thanks!

For jm - Happy Professional

[ In Reply To ..]
jm, perhaps you should tell us what you think "salaried" means. You have criticized others, but you're not saying what you think it means.

I think you are using it to mean a person in management who gets X amount per year and shows up if and when they feel like it, whether it is 40 hours a week or not.

The rest of us seem to be using it to mean someone who is employed 40 hours a week (or some other fixed number of hours) and who has a compensation package that the employer figures on a yearly basis. The actual pay can be broken down into monthly, weekly, and hourly amounts, but the employee can anticipate receiving that amount, including any benefits, for 40 hours per week. Either they are working for 40 hours or they are using paid time off or sick leave for part of it, and they might even get a half-hour or hour here and there without a charge to leave banks.

When you get right down to it, that IS how most managers are compensated, too. While it may appear to employees that they cruise in and out and do next to nothing, unless they are something like a company CEO, they are actually on the same kind of plan you are.

This is different from wage workers who show up in the morning at a labor pool and are hired for half a day or a day at minimum wage to perform manual labor. It is different from blue collar workers who are paid hourly to work on job sites if and when there happens to be something for them to do and who leave if there is not. It is different from retail sales workers who are paid hourly and might not have work from one day to the next. It is different from waitpersons who get a small hourly amount which has to be supplemented with tips. Thsoe people may receive no benefits, no paid time off, and have little job security.

Most coders have jobs which pay $30-70K per year, which may have even 35% more in benefits compensation, and which can be counted upon to provide consistent employment as long as the coder does not become undesirable to the employer.

I have one of those jobs. I can't even tell you how much I make per hour because I only see it in yearly and biweekly increments. My organization advertises jobs with annual salaries, not hourly wages, and I do not get sent home at no pay for any reason. Even if there was no work, I would still be paid, but I'm a professional and can come up with something to benefit my organization no matter what, even if it was doing training to improve my abilities. Every coder I know except consultants and contractors has something similar, and some of those contractors rake in a happy $140K on a piecework basis.

I cannot believe that coding jobs in your area treat coders as if they were day laborers. The salary surveys show that pay in the northeast is quite good. If you are working in undesirable circumstances, then I would encourage you to find a better job.

That's just what I was thinking - From Where I Am

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

salaried - jm

[ In Reply To ..]
"I think you are using it to mean a person in management who gets X amount per year and shows up if and when they feel like it, whether it is 40 hours a week or not."

Yes, this is what I think when I hear salaried.

That's not what we mean, though. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Glad we cleared that up. We're not using salaried to mean that.

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