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Will More People With Health Insurance = More Medical Coding and Billing Jobs? - Wondering

Posted: Jun 29, 2012

The people I know who will now be getting medical insurance will obviously now go to the doctor when they get sick. It makes sense to me that there will be more coding and more billing, right? That's a good thing for us I think.

Coding and billing jobs - On site MT

[ In Reply To ..]
Obamacare does not go into effect until 2014 and it's not a done deal. If we have a Republican president in November, things could change again. Nothing is as simple as it appears, a lot of billing and coding can be done by computer now, especially in an outpatient setting. I hope you are right about more jobs but no one knows what will happen with any certainty.

This is exactly what the post below is talking about - i.e., seeing only one kind of coding job

[ In Reply To ..]
You are not a coder and you seem to see coding as that "one job" mentioned in the post below. You see it as only the small part of coding that can be handled by computer.

You do not understand what coding is, so you do ot understand what the computer can do and how that relates to the job. Not only does that not take our jobs away, but there is a lot more to it that cannot be done by computer.

I wish this board could prevent noncoders from making uninformed statements that end up perpetuating ignorance and misleading others.

And please do not turn this topic into a political rant.

How do you know what I am? - On site MT

[ In Reply To ..]
And if I'm not a coder, I'm still entitled to my opinion, unless the coding board has become exclusive without my knowledge. From one ignorant person to another.....

Easy--you do not understand what coding is. - NM

[ In Reply To ..]
You are saying things that noncoders would believe about coding, not what coders know to be true about coding.

It is very obvious. If I showed your post around at work, everyone would say "Not a coder!" and roll their eyes.

Not a coder - On Site MT

[ In Reply To ..]
So what? In your eyes, that makes me some kind of low life? If I showed this at work, I can tell you that the no one would give a rip. First of all no one has time for this, we're too busy doing our jobs. FYI, I considered coding as an option if/when MT ended for me and completed a program, and I do understand what it is. I hated it, and thankfully things are going well in transcription. However, my choice doesn't mean I'm stupid or incapable of learning, as you seem to speak. Anyone here who questions coding as a profession or challenges that anyone considering it needs to weigh their decision carefully, they are attacked by you or one of your cronies from the Andrews School. If you're an example of the people I'd be working with, I'm glad I chose to continue as an MT. I can't believe your arrogance.

I think the only issue was . . . - Computers

[ In Reply To ..]
Not sure where this blew up, but the only issue seemed to be the to be the bit about computers taking over coding.

No one said anything about you being stupid. It just said you did not appear to be a coder because you don't understand how computers will affect coding.

Maybe you did take a coding course, but you are not a working coder. I agree that there is a lot of knowledge gained on the job, and in a variety of jobs, that affect understanding of computer use in coding.

If you found you did not like coding, there is nothing wrong with that. Nobody wants you to do a job that you dislike.

You can state your belief that going into coding is useless because computers will be doing it, but you should not be surprised that others contradict you.

I work for a healthcare system, not at Andrews, and I do not see how my understanding of computerized coding can be blamed on them.

Computers - On site MT

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't think I said that computers were taking over coding, but CAC does exist, particularly in the outpatient setting, my facility uses it. I pointed it out because the OP was asking about the future of billing and coding jobs, I expressed my opinion, nothing more. Then, someone began taunting and saying how others looked down on me and would roll their eyes because I obviously was not a coder. We're all permitted different points of view, what a boring world it would be if we all saw things the same.

I understand what you are saying - Not the OP

[ In Reply To ..]
I understand what you are saying. I also agree with the OP that what you are saying is not the whole picture of coding, but certainly what you said is also true. Technology is always changing the way we do things, even in coding. I believe there will be coding jobs for years to come, for many of the reasons the OP gave, but I appreciate the points you made as well.

Increased utilization of healthcare services - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Increased demand for healthcare services is expected, so there will be a need for healthcare workers in general. In addition to the new law, there will be more consumers of healthcare as the baby-boomer generation reaches Medicare age.

That will result in an increase in coding jobs, as well as jobs in fields related to coding.

Because MTs do pretty much one job of listening and transcribing or VR, and that job never advances or has any other jobs relating to it or extending from it, they tend to see coding as one job, either a front-office billing job or a hospital job in which you read records and apply codes. They see ONLY that job . . . one MT job and one coder job. They visualize coding as something that looks exactly like MT except for the headset.

The variety of jobs in coding or which require a knowledge of it is very extensive. So, yes, while there will be more jobs just because of the need to bill more insurance, there will be more of all jobs related to coding. There is already an increase in jobs related to ICD-10, to EHRs, and in informatics. Jobs in clinical documentation improvement are beginning to explode, in fact.

All these other jobs you listed require schooling - Sm

[ In Reply To ..]
You simply cannot work in informatics if you have just a CCS certification and no degree. All jobs I've seen in informatics require a bachelors in IT or informatics. All clinical documentation jobs I've seen require a clinical degree, like nursing. You need the education to get these types of jobs, at least at the seven hospitals where I live. I've been a coder for a year and my CCS will get me nothing more than a coding job or coding supervisor unless I get a degree. And yes, I've been told this by several hospitals that I've applied to.

You can CHOOSE not to pursue further education - Why not choose MORE?

[ In Reply To ..]
No one said you would not need any further education. The point was that there are many different avenues available to coders, so no one considering coding should look at it as one job.

If you have a CCS, you have a high school diploma or the equivalent. You are therefore eligible to attend college and intelligent enough to complete a degree.

You have a job that pays well and which may have educational benefits. You have advice available from AHIMA-affiliated managers and coworkers. You have advice available HERE from people who have gone on for further education.

It makes absolutely no difference if you have a college locally, because many have online programs. You seem to have a computer and internet access, but if you did not you could get them.

If you only have a high school diploma, you are probably eligible for a Pell Grant that would not require repayment. Unless you chose a diploma mill--and there is NO reason anyone should do that and innumerable reasons why they should NOT--the cost would low enough that it would not be burdensome on your current salary even if you had to get a loan.

Given all of that, what is stopping you? What hangup is so overwhelming that it is preventing you from improving yourself?

Even more important, what hangup is so overwhelming that OTHERS need to be discouraged because if it? What is such an obstacle to you that you find it necessary to drive perfect strangers away from your career field? That is what you have been doing, after all.

The word "schooling" is not usually applied to college education, so it may be that you do not have much experience with or exposure to higher education. You might not understand how college education works. Maybe you hated high school and think college will be the same, or maybe your friends and family ridicule education, or maybe you belong to a religious group that discourages it, ot maybe your ethnic group thinks it is something only men do, or maybe you just have a fear of it. Or, maybe you buy into the stupid belief that you are too old.

Whatever it is, it seems to be holding you back. I think you could find a counselor at a community college (one affiliated with a state system, not a sales "counselor" at a diploma mill) to help with that.

Here is the reality of your situation. A bachelor's degree in HIM (informatics, in fact) leading to the RHIA can be completed at Western Governors, in an AHIMA-accredited program, in less time than other colleges. With what you already know about coding, you can complete all that material very quickly. The same goes for most of the rest of the HIM material. Many students complete BA there is 2-1/2 years. You probably can, too.

That program is entirely online, provides excellent support for independent and motivated students, is well-respected, nonprofit, and excellent with technology. It is a lot easier there than at a brick-and-mortar college.

Your managers and the hospital you work for know this. They DID this. They know you could do it. They NEED you to do it because right now you do not have all the knowledge you need to advance.

This is a choice. You can choose it or not, but if you choice is "no," recognize that is YOUR OWN DOING. It is not coding that is the problem, or your employer, or colleges . . . it is your choice. And stop trying to get others to buy into your negative belief system, because they did nothing to deserve being held back.

Coding is an excellent field. HIM has a lot of well-paying jobs. The road to them is open to you, but you need to CHOOSE IT.

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