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

MT to coder? - JC

Posted: Aug 28, 2011

Hello all. I am currently an MT and for many reasons I am considering leaving that career. I was wondering about coding and billing. How is the pay? As an MT I have seen the pay go down considerably over the years and was wondering if coding/billing is in the same boat. Also, would you recommend becoming a coder in this economy? Which school has the best program? Thanks.

Coding - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Coding is not in the same boat as MT. Not at all. It is such an important part of a facility's reeimbursement and financial health that coders do very well. They are indespensible, in fact. This is especially true in this economy. With Medicare cuts and other economic issues, coding has become more important than ever.

Billing does not pay as well. It is more of a clerical occupation. More people can do billing than coding. Coding takes longer to learn and more to keep up with. It is considered to be an allied health professional occupation. It requires a high degree of ability in terms of reading comprehension and logical decision-making. There is more ethical and legal responsibility on coders. These are all reasons coding pays well.

The AAPC conducts yearly salary surveys. They are posted on their website. Just go there (www dot aapc dot com) and look for it. (It might be on a careers tab or something like that. I know you can get to it from one of those tabs on the top.) The survey is very detailed and will tell you what coders make in your geographic region, as well as what coders make with and without certification. It ranges from about $30K to more than $70K.

It's hard to say what program is the best. That depends on you and your particular style. Most of us would recommend that you choose a course that includes both outpatient and inpatient coding, preferably taught separately. Some schools don't teach inpatient at all, and that limits your learning in general and also shuts you out of a lot of good jobs. Even if you do not want to work in a hospital, you should learn inpatient coding. If the school teaches both of them at once, you might end up being unable to sort them out at the end.

As you can see from the advice below, a school that uses instructors is advisable. Coding is difficult to learn on your own, so having an instructor to guide you is important. The instructors should have certifications in both inpatient and outpatient coding, and they should be working coders, not former coders who now work for a school. You want them to have current experience at a large facility, not just a doctor's office. Don't assume that college programs have instructors that teach. Most of them are online and students have very little personal interaction with them.

Avoid being impressed because a program is affiliated with an organization that gives the test. That doesn't mean they prepare you for it any better. Instead, avoid any program that does not believe you can pass a certification exam at graduation. That's an indication that they aren't teaching enough. You should not have to work for 3 or 5 years after graduating to learn enough to pass that test--who would hire you? That's the problem, no one hires those students. Instead, aim for a program that expects you to pass the exams when you graduate. That's how you know they teach enough.

Don't assume that all schools teach the same material. Don't assume that an organizations stamp of approval on a program is a guarantee of quality--see the note above about programs that think you need 3 to 5 years of experience. That program may be teaching what the organization wants, but if it isn't enough, you will be stuck in the same can't-find-a-job boat that all the rest of their grads are.

You will see that jobs ask for experience and certification. You may find this frustrating and discouraging, but remember that every working coder out there didn't have experience at one time and got a job anyway. If you do the right things, you can, too. Those right things include a program that will enable you to pass the CPC and CCS soon after graduation.

coding - JC

[ In Reply To ..]
Thanks.

coding - nana6

[ In Reply To ..]
Just read the post for billing and coding that was posted the same day as yours. It is an Indian company looking for work. Obviously was posted on the wrong board but that should tell you what direction coding is going in too. This is so sad.

He has the audacity to introduce himself as an Indian company looking for work here in the states.

I know someone who signed up with a similar company - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
The decision to sign up with this overseas company was to save money. Not only did he not save money, but the company he signed up with hacked into his web site and it cost him dearly.

People can advertise, promote, and even provide any kind of service known to man, but that doesn't mean that it's wise to buy into what they are selling. It also doesn't mean that many people will, particularly with coding, which has everything to do with how much money a medical facility brings in. THAT is why most business people will weigh the pros and cons and decide not to go that way. There is too much risk and absolutely no accountability, meaning, they aren't in America and you can't take them to court if they rip you off.

DRIVE-BY ALERT! The offshore view from - Someone who knows better.

[ In Reply To ..]
"Just read the post for billing and coding that was posted the same day as yours. It is an Indian company looking for work . . . should tell you what direction coding is going in too. This is so sad."

What direction would that be? Looks like ONshore to me. But that's from my vantage point inside the industry, not from outside.

You imply that coding is going the same way MT went . . . offshore.

The fact that some Indian or Pakistani tries to solicit here does not mean that the coding industry is going offshore. A more accurate view would be that he was hoping to get work from someone, but that it did not appear that he had been in business for very long, since his claims were vague and basically groundless.

But don't let that dissuade you from Chicken-Littling!

If your claim that coding is going offshore, just like MT, then why didn't it go offshore when MT did? Why didn't it go offshore when call centers and computer programming went offshore? Is there something even more difficult about it?

Well, no, there isn't. In fact, coding could have gone offshore when MT did or even sooner. MT couldn't go until it was possible to transfer large voice files. We've been able to do coding remotely for longer than that. So many institutions have electronic reports that it wouldn't have been too difficult to send a package of electronic and scanned or even faxed reports.

Are we DOING that? No. We could have done it ten years ago, but WE STILL HAVEN'T DONE IT.

Why not? Because most people consider it ill-advised. It is just too dangerous in terms of lost money and, now, lost patient data. Does any institution want to see themselves in the news? Not really, no. Suggest offshoring to them and they get the heebie-jeebies.

I know it's fun to spread nasty rumors to upset people and even discourage them from a perfectly good occupation. It is also a good deed to respond with a rebuttal, and that's why I bothered to respond to your obviously inflammatory, drive-by posting.

If coding was going offshore, it would already BE offshore. But, it isn't, and there is a reason for that--it's just a stupid idea and most people in the industry realize that.

oh really. - nice speech

[ In Reply To ..]
Better check with the Q on that, they do send coding over!

Yup, really. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
What the Q does makes no difference. There is nothing all-powerful about them. I don't know what they are doing, nor do I care, because whatever they do happen to be doing is not making a dent in the coding industry. They are not a respected player in that field.

This is not a big issue in coding. It might seem so to YOU from your perspective as an unhappy MT, because all this talk and MQ is in your face all the time. But you're not a coder, so you do not have the information you would need to see the occupation accurately and objectively. You don't even have an accurate view of what a coder does--not if you think that what the Q is doing is in any way significant.

I think people deserve to hear a view of the field from someone who works in it every day, who hasn't been affected by any offshoring, and who can't even SEE any worrisome degree of offshoring occurring.

If you'll remember back last year some time - As I Recall

[ In Reply To ..]
There was a discussion here on that topic. There was one poster who was working in coding, even though she had reported that her training was (incomplete, spotty, inferior, partial, inadequate---choose the word that best describes it as you remember the conversation) and it didn't matter anyway because coding was all going away. She knew that because she worked for a company that was offshore-owned.

It is understandable that one person's view is formed from their own personal experience, as in this case.

My own view is that in the world we live in right now companies will try all sorts of things to make a profit and/or stay in business. We may see instances or hear about companies that tried this and that, but that doesn't mean that we won't hear next month or six months from now that it was a colossal failure. Companies can try anything and everything. That seems to be what they are doing these days, just grasping at any new idea, even though they don't make sense, just so people will think they are cutting edge.

Common sense tells us that some of these ideas are doomed to failure, but that won't keep companies from trying them, especially when the person making the decision isn't spending his or her own money.

not gonna happen - Medtranusa

[ In Reply To ..]
Coding will not go offshore like transcription has because you have to send all the patient info with it. You can do transcription without giving the person access to the medical chart.

Good point, and so was your point on the topic below - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

offshore - cj

[ In Reply To ..]
Ummm, I also am a coder who has been in the field of coding for many years. I worked for a consulting firm doing coding for a very, very large hospital/trauma center and medical college. Guess what - the acct was lost. Guess why we all lost our jobs with this company. because all the new clients are looking for an offshore option in order to cut coding costs. This is not chicken little. This is, unfortunately, the way the world is going. the company now has an office in India and has several coders working there and is currently training more. You can be as naive as you want but a lot of coding is going to be in india soon! They have a leg up as the rest of the world already uses ICD-10 and we are way behind in getting there.

That makes a grand total of 1 that I've heard of so far - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm hoping yours is one of only a few who do what you have told us they are doing. I remember when you told us about it before. I wondered if it would be a trend. So far it hasn't. Time will tell.

MT to Coder - Shade

[ In Reply To ..]
I am a CPC (Certified Professional Coder) through the AAPC. I graduated from a local technical college in Medical Billing and Coding in 2009. I immediately passed the AAPC certificaton exam in 2010 and began the job hunt. Little did I realize how difficult it is for a newly certified coder to get hired. Everyone requires 3 to 5 years experience. I applied for every coding job available and was never considered for even an interview. I applied for front desk doctor office jobs just to get my foot in the door and couldn't even manage to get hired for front desk with my coding and billing training. Unfortunately, it is very, very difficult to enter the coding job field.

I then took a transcription course and my school helped me with job placement. I started working as an MT from home within several months of graduating. MT wages cannot compare with Coder wages. Coders are compensated well. Hate to discourage you, but just want you to know know the truth. None of my fellow coder grads found jobs either.

Ours did, but they passed the CCS exam, which makes a big difference - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
It really would be hard to find a job if all you have is the CPC.

Employers need coders with a CCS. The CPC is a plus, but not enough to get you a job by itself.

Any employer is going to prefer to have a CCS with experience, but they are in short supply, so they will hire a CCS straight out of school when they have to. It doesn't usually work that way with a CPC from what I've seen.

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