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

Coding :: thinking about changing from MT to coding - Emma

Posted: Oct 07, 2013

I am thinking about changing from MT to coding. Are there many opportunities to work from home with coding? What would be a good school to attend? Thank you for the help.

coding - me too

[ In Reply To ..]
What kind of coding are you looking to do? Physician office is faster but you don't make a lot.

Hospitals coder make a lot more money and ours do it at home BUT, the schooling is two years and you have to be certified and take CEs.

Check you local hospital and/or doctor and see what they require as far as education.

Suggestions - Coder1

[ In Reply To ..]
You might find some useful information in the archived posts here; both questions have been discussed often.

While there are remote jobs, it is likely that you will need considerable experience to get one. Coding is not a good choice as an "at home" job, especially if you plan to do homeschooling, childcare, or to nurse family members. They also often require spending at least some time in the office.

There are salary surveys on the AHIMA and AAPC webstes. Suggest you refer to them for accurate information about income. You will find the salaries for credentialed coders to be fairly close regardless of the certifying organization. Hospital coders can make less than certain types of physician services coders. The specialty has a lot to do with it.

Education specifically for coding can be as short as a 4-month program or up to a year for college certificate programs and Andrews. The content varies widely--they are not all the same. College HIT programs include coding, but are not required for credentialing or employment. How much coding they contain seems to vary considerably. RHIA programs also include coding.

All coders need to be credentialed. All credentials require maintenance. Your best bet for employment is to be credentialed in coding by both the AAPC and AHIMA. AHIMA coding credentials are now more difficult to get since they instituted educational requirements. Even some RHIT programs do not meet them.

Coding - Emma

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you for the replies. I found these very helpful and informative.

Similar Messages:

Aug 13, 2013

Accepted a job, gave 2 weeks notice, and yesterday was my first day. I was to be helping out transcription (1000 jobs behind), and then sitting with billing and training with coding as their coder will be out on maternity leave in December. The office is adding another surgeon, and they are rapidly expanding. So I gave a proper 2 weeks' notice to my former employer (2 hours on the road there and back, low salary - now less than half distance and $3 more an hour) and starte ...

May 11, 2010

Is there really such a thing as an AA degree in coding? Sounds odd to me. Health administration or management, or RHIT I can see, but coding? Is it not better to just become Certified even if you dont have an AA degree? ...

Apr 10, 2012

Wondering if there are any coders out there who can give me an idea of the fate of coding due to the EMR. Are there still coding jobs out there? Would it be wise to attend school for coding at this point or do you think it will be lost to the EMR eventually? I live in a rural area and there are advertisements for registered/accredited coders at medical facilities, but I'm afraid of spending all that time and money on schooling only to not be able to find a job. Any information/insight w ...

Feb 26, 2014

My sister is taking an online coding course and complains that there is no real "teaching," that she's basically just doing the work in the work book and entering answers online, then taking an online chapter test. This makes me wonder about the necessity of signing up for an actual course. I would like to learn how to code, but to me, without any actual instruction, what's the purpose of signing up for one of these online courses? ...

Apr 15, 2014

Anyone know if MM has an age restriction on new coding students? ...

May 20, 2014

Thanks for your response. ...

Sep 27, 2010

I've been an MT for going on 8 years now, and I've been throwing around the idea of taking a coding class. I would really like to have something else to fall back on, as it seems that MT'ing is going more and more to VR. There's a local coding class that begins in January for $1700, but I wanted to get some feedback of current coders before signing up. Is the demand for coders still fairly high? Is it hard to find a job as a newbie, even with already having experience in the ...

Jan 19, 2011

I have almost 12 years experience as an MT (turn 30 in a month ACK!) My mom has been telling me for a couple years now (since it started going downhill) that I should maybe think about coding as a career. I guess she thinks I'd be good at it, but I have no idea. I have just started my research but I thought I would kind of get some pros and cons about it see if anyone had advice or thoughts on anyone thinking about it. I always feel like I'm too old to start som ...

Dec 27, 2011

What was the best thing about the coding course you took? Did it prepare you for the CCS and CPC exams or maybe just the CCA? Did you take any of those exams and did you pass or fail them? What course did you take? Did you think it was hard or easy? You don't need to answer all of the questions, but maybe a couple of them. Thanks. ...

Feb 11, 2012

there's just ONE little thing that keeps me doubting the possibility of it being a long-term career: I keep seeing more and more ads every week for "at home coders". Does this make you at least a little nervous? It makes me a LOT nervous. We all know that once MTs started working from home, the MT field went into a tailspin, pay-wise, because "work-at-home" seems to translate into "work-in-India", instead. Also I see some ads for MTSOs that also offer coding. ...

Apr 16, 2012

Is Evaluation and management coding hard to learn? ...

May 10, 2012

I am generally pretty good at making my own decisions; however, I need advice on what to do in this situation. I am currently an MT making $55,000-$60,000 year. The last few years MT work slowed down due to VR/EMR and it was harder and harder to replace lost accounts. While I was looking for another client/MTSO to fill the gap last year, I took a college course for coding and passed the CPC thinking I would have a back-up plan if needed; however, I found more MT work shortly after passing the C ...

Aug 14, 2012

I passed the CCS and CPC exam 8 months ago but have yet to find a job :(. I busted my bu** to become a certified coder, and now that I am one, no one will hire me without experience. I live in a small town. We have one hospital. I applied and was flat out told they cannot hire coders without minimum 2 years experience. I asked if I could volunteer or job shadow and they said no. No jobs there in HIM at all. Our local medical clinic has a coding company t ...

Oct 12, 2012

I think it's a good artcile about coding and will give you a glimpse into it too. ...

Jul 09, 2013

Before I take this leap of faith into coding school, will the EHR/VR technology be sinking the coding ship too? ...

Jul 21, 2013

Can anyone help out with a basics coding course I am taking? ...

Mar 12, 2014

Just got an e-mail from my manager stating that if you get accepted into the program, all money paid while training will have to be paid back if you do not complete or pass the course or if you pass and do not stay with the company for 24 months following completion of the training. You also still have to work your regular number of hours. If you can't get your homework done in the 20 paid hours, then you will have to do it on your own time. ...

May 14, 2014

I've seen lots of people ask questions about coding, but I have some questions I haven't seen asked before and was hoping somebody could answer them. I'd hate to go to school for something and then learn the hard way that I hate the job. BTDT and don't want to do it again! -What do you like best about coding? -What do you hate about coding? -What is the most stressful part of the job? -What kinds of people would like coding? Thanks in advance for any answers ...

May 19, 2015

based on reading here that they prepare you for the CCS, which is know is pretty much mandatory . Anyway, what I read there about their coding program sounded really good, but then I read about their transcription program. I now have lost respect for this school. How can I believe what they say about coding when they tout medical transcription as still being a good career? I know I work for the notoriously WORST of the worst company, Nuance, but I think all MT companie ...

Jun 10, 2015

...

Jun 14, 2015

Are some coders doing coding for private practices as an IC from home? MT for 22 years thinking of coding school. If this is being done, how would this work? Would you charge per report? Do you have the reports emailed to you and then how would you do the coding? Would you need to remotely log into their electronic records system? I apologize if these questions sound dumb. Truthfully I really know very little about coding as I have just begun researching ...

Nov 03, 2009

I used to receive a free magazine that was mainly for coding, but it had some MT information. It was more of medical information magazine. I have since stopped receiving it and can't remember the name of it. Does anyone know what I'm tallking about? If so, can you send me the name of the magazine so I can contact them and get another subscription. Thank you. ...

Feb 04, 2010

Any informatioin regarding medical coding and billing? I am thinking about going back to school. I recently lost my MT job. Thanks! ...

Feb 23, 2010

I'd like to know where/how coders out there got there education. I live in central Iowa and took a an "insurance billing" class along with my MT class, at a local community college. However, I did not feel that it was very good training for coding, and the teacher wrote the book/manual herself. We did, however, use the ICD-9 and CPT books in conjunction with her manual. Do most medical coders take their training online, or do they attend a school? If you atten ...

Mar 29, 2010

I have been a MT for over 4 years. I am thinking of switching to coding. How hard is the switch? Can you find work at home jobs? What are the best online schools for it? Thank you ...

Apr 04, 2010

I am wanting to start coding in the next month. I have a question though. Does it make a difference if you have a certificate or associates in it? Is one better than the other? ...

Apr 20, 2010

Hello, I am looking for anyone who is a coder, or understands the basic concepts of using the ICD-9 book. If possible I would like to speak with someone directly and can arrange a phone call. I am only a few weeks into this, I do not want to be a coder, I am getting my degree to be an MA. Just reading examples of how or why to code something a certain way is really giving me trouble. If anyone hear can offer any help please drop me a line. I don't know if there is a way to PM someone o ...

Apr 20, 2010

has anyone thought about or actually made the swith from mt to billing/coding? ...

Apr 25, 2010

I'd like to begin studying medical coding on my own to see if it it's a match iin terms of learning and liking the field. I have 30+ years of transcription experience and usually learn fairly quickly. What books/workbooks do you suggest as a start to see if this feels like it will work for me? And for people who have done this on your own, what did you include in a program of study for yourself? Are there some areas that you feel an in-house course is needed? Replies greatly app ...

Apr 30, 2010

Any info on them? Supposed to be out of AL but when I google them, nothing comes up. ...