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

Coder pursuing BSN? Or better a Master's in HIM? ?? - Finn

Posted: Apr 04, 2014

Bachelor's degree in an unrelated field, professional background in management, then 10+ years in medical transcription, new coder. Interested in future healthcare management. Would a BSN/nursing degree be desireable? Or better to pursue a second bachelor's or a Master's in HIM?

Or ... other that I have not considered but should?

Looking for insight or thoughts.

I would go for the BSN - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I do not see a lot of jobs that require a master's in HIM. However, the BSN is golden. I work in HR at a hospital now after being an MT and then a coder and then went a totally different direction with my career. BSNs here are paid very well and have many career opportunities. They can work in nursing, case management, informatics, instructors, etc. But obviously it mostly depends on what you enjoy doing. A master's in HIM is going to be heavy with technology and administrative roles. You say you're interested in healthcare management, so maybe the HIM would be a better fit for you. Just research jobs in both and see what you would prefer.

Interested in future healthcare management - Been there & done it

[ In Reply To ..]
That is an interesting pair of choices, because the time to completion on them is greatly different and the one you did not think needed a masters does, while the other does not. Nursing administration increasingly requires a master's, while health information administration does not -- the RHIA is the terminal degree in that field. At the present time, a master's in HIM does not add appreciably to job prospects, but you can get an MBA with good results.

An RHIA is not going to require you to start over in college like the BSN will.

With a bachelor's in an unrelated field, assuming it is from a regionally accredited institution, you can do a postgraduate certificate in health information administration (CHIA) from the University of Toledo in about a year, at very reasonable cost (in-state rates for distance students), take the RHIA exam, and walk straight into an upper-level role in health information management, like HIM director, director of coding services, privacy officer, etc. You could transform that coding background into a positiin with any number of contracting companies in coding, coding training, HIM support, etc. You could continue working in coding until you got a higher-level job. Your coding background and credentials would be highly valued. You would not lose anything. You would not be starting over. You have already done the worker-bee role and have that valuable job experience. This career path and training will seem familar and easier, and you can possibly test out of some courses or find that they require little work if you do take them. (See www.hicareers.com for other job options.)

At that point, while working in your new role, you can do an MBA.

You could also do a second bachelor's in health informatics at Western Governor's University. It leads to the RHIA, as well, but focuses on informatics. Cost is reasonable and you can do it in a few years, depending on how motivated you are. Unless informatics pleases you, UT would be a better choice.

A BSN will require starting over. You will have to complete a mostly in-person educational program. Entrance is highly competitive. Your background would be almost completely irrelevant to them. Programs are more expensive. There are state licensing exams. You would then need to get an entry-level job, and the hire rate for new BSNs is shockingly low. They graduate in huge numbers and hospitals have no jobs for them because they are using nurse extenders to save money. (Do a web search.) If you got a job, you would be working in direct patient care for years. The work is stressful, back-breaking, and facilities are so short-staffed that hours are long. So long they are associated with medical errors and fatal car accidents. Working nights is bad for your health.

At that point, you are going to find that a BSN is not necessarily enough. You will need an MSN to advance into management at larger facilities.

(Another option would be ARNP, but you said you were interested in management.)

You might consider, too, that doctors do not think particularly highly of nurses. They don't diss pharmacists and they don't diss us (at least not to our faces), but they do diss nurses ... big time ... and they do it directly and in person. Often viciously. They can resent ARNPs to the point of loathing. As a former MT, you might want to think twice before getting into a career field where you will experience even more of what you got on those tapes.

Nurses spend a lot of time trying to get out of nursing.

I recommend doing what you LOVE - jb

[ In Reply To ..]
I would do what you love and enjoy doing, your passion. Do NOT go into a program based on it being the fastest, quickest, cheapest way to get a degree. Based on my experience, I had two choices - one choice was my true passion and it would have taken me 3 years to finish the program, and the other choice wasn't my passion and would take me a year. I chose the latter and went on to regret it because I wasn't enjoying what I was doing. So, follow your heart and gut!

Or, you can learn to love what you do - or just go do the other

[ In Reply To ..]
Medicine, nursing, and all the other fields in healthcare intermingle with each other to a large extent. HIM touches all of them. It supports all of them, but it does not require direct patient care.

It was not my first choice, but it was an available choice with worthwhile, achievable goals. I decided to make it what I loved. And now I do.

I try not to fall victim to the idea that the grass is greener in other pastures. Not being IN that pasture, I can't know what life is like there. The view from outside is often quite different.

If you made the wrong decision, absolutely nothing is stopping you from pursuing that goal now. Nothing ever restricted you to one shot.

If you have 3 years of college to complete, figure out what you need and start taking CLEP tests for as much of it as you can. Find free online courses (www.saylor.org) and then test out. Find out what textbooks your college uses (look up the course number in the online bookstore), study them, and test out. If your local college desn't allow that, find a college that does.

I've been researching the coding and HIM field for a while now, - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
and I've about decided to pursue something else. As far as coding, it's hard to get your foot in the door, and you don't make squat for quite a while, and even when you start making more, it's still not that much usually. Not to mention, anything that can be done on the computer is slowly but surely all going overseas. I've just about decided it's not worth investing in unfortunately. I think the BA in HIM is being majorly flooded as well, especially because it's a degree that can be completed online. There are only so many jobs available in that field... I searched a 90-mile radius on indeed.com and only found 1 coding position and zero HIM/HIT management positions. I'm considering a bachelors in business management or accounting -- at least there are plenty of jobs listed for those areas. I would personally search indeed.com or monster.com and see what kinds of jobs are available in your area before investing anymore money in schooling. All just my humble opinion of course.

Depending on where you live - WXYZ

[ In Reply To ..]
Coding jobs can be abundant. My facility currently has 4 openings, one of them since January. It is hard to get a foot in the door, and I'm not sure what you consider "squat wages." With the OPs background, if she became certified in coding and got an RHIA or RHIT, she could work as a consultant or analyst, manage, or work in compliance. The wages are good for all of those jobs, and inpatient coders also do quite well, JMHO.

I would recommend searching someplace - better than indeed.com

[ In Reply To ..]
The OP is already a coder, so she should have a different view of job availability. She already knows it is not impossible to get a job, lol.

Most jobs in professional fields that require credentials are advertised through professional organizations. You won't see them unless you are a member.

The market is not being flooded with RHIAs, either. Those programs are small and the failure rate on the exam is very high, cutting the numbers by more than 40%.

a lot of people really underestimate social work - see inside

[ In Reply To ..]
that's a good field to get into, you can do a lot with it depending on your licensing and certifications. Long term I will have coding and transcription experience plus my master's in social work with post graduate psychotherapy hours. I can do anything from private practice to facility admin. I actually had a psychiatrist whose wife is a social worker tell me her degree is more valuable as it is a hundred times more versatile. His own daughter had a friend who went to college for SW and she went for psychology. Her friend was out working and his daughter went back after her bachelors to get a degree in social work because she couldn't find anything. I think a lot of people think social work=rescuing crack babies. Here's a snippet from a college regarding fields you can go into:
Career Opportunities for a B.S.W.

Many career paths will be open to you after you earn your bachelorâ��s degree in social work. Here are just some of the occupations or organizations for which this major is well suited. (Additional training may be required for some of them.)

Addiction treatment facilities
Adoption agencies
Advocacy organizations
Aging services
Child welfare agencies
Counseling centers
Domestic violence services
Family service agencies
Group homes
Hospice services
Hospitals
Mental health centers and hospitals
Military bases
Nursing homes
Public welfare offices
Research centers
Schools
Veteran services

Whatever you do, please don't get a degree in counseling. It's one of the worst things you could do. low pay and no real opportunities for growth. Counseling was my first choice and when I researched it I was blow away. Kinda like choosing between being an LPN and RN.

Just want to point out ... - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Not sure where you got that list, but "veterans services" and "military bases" can mean a lot of things, but you should not think you will get a job in social work with the VA, and probably not with any element of the federal government. The VA's minimum requirement for social work is an MSW.

our local army hospital just had an opening for a clinical social worker - yes you need a masters but pay was

[ In Reply To ..]
up to $75,000.

Sounds good, but you can do that with an - RHIA, too.

[ In Reply To ..]
That would be a GS-11. Four years of college, two years of graduate school, and possibly a year or two of internship. For at least 6 of those years you pay OUT.

What else would get you a GS-11? An RHIA.

Actually, you can do it with an RHIT or even a CPC and a few years of experience.

Food for thought - Finn

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you so much for all of the responses, particularly Been there and done it. Printing out your response and giving that some heavy thought. I am intrigued by the staged plan you mention to ultimately achieve the master's in a practical, feasible way and will be looking into that further.

Thank you ALL for taking the time to read and respond. Every thought is helpful and appreciated.

-Finn

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