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

Interested in possibly going into coding - Looking

Posted: May 24, 2011

I am doing some research on medical coding. I have looked at Andrews Coding School and Career Step. Both seem to be close but Career Step states it takes much less time to finish, which I am guessing is to get you in to their school and not reality but that is only a guess. The cost is also a huge difference. Has anyone here gone through either school and would you recomend one over the other? Any advice is appreciated.

Answer - SM - wannabe coder

[ In Reply To ..]
I went through Career Step. They give you 4 months to finish plus a free 8-month extension which would be a year if you need to take it. I work 40 hours a week and took a full year and afterwards still wanted time to review and study more. I wasn't too impressed with the format of the class (programmed learning, all multiple choice, no instructor feedback) but for some students it works well. You would need a lot of self-discipline. The cost difference is probably because Career Step does not hire instructors and do not include course materials.

Thank you for your reply! - looking

[ In Reply To ..]
So does it prepare you for the certification tests so that you are more marketable like the Andrews one does? Instructors or no instructors I can see both as a pro and a con. Thanks again for any information.

Preparation for certification - wannabe coder

[ In Reply To ..]
I never had contact with other students so I don't know how many took the exams immediately after they graduated, or who went on to find coding jobs. I still have my full-time MT job and will probably put coding on hold for a while. The school claims that their course is enough, I felt I needed more, extra review never hurts as things change so rapidly in coding. We all learn and retain information at different rates, so I guess it would depend on the student.

We could ask if anybody here graduated from there and passed certification - see message

[ In Reply To ..]
It really doesn't all depend on the student. It depends on the material that is taught and how it is taught.

Are there any graduates here who went through the course and got their credentials? I think I'll try to go through a page or two of the messages below and see if there have been any.

Thanks for posting! You have been very helpful. - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

What is the pro for not having instructors??? - Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
You said there were pros and cons for not having instructors. That's an interesting statement.

Not trying to be snarky here, but what would the pro be to not having instructors?

I think a lot of people choose instructor-less courses because there are no instructors, but I have never understood why they feel that is an advantage. Sometimes I wonder if it is a control issue, or perhaps something left over from mean teachers in grade school, or goodness only knows.

What would you feel is the disadvantage to having instructors???

Agree - Bizzi

[ In Reply To ..]
I would have to agree with the above post about Career Step. I began an MT refresher class with them and was not too impressed. There was a lot of "online" time. The cost was cheaper, but there was no instructor help, no materials included in the cost, and it did require a lot of self-discipline. It was tiring working from the computer - eye strain. I'm planning on taking medical coding through Andrews beginning in January and feel that it will be well worth the cost compared to Career Step. Just my side of the story....

Thanks for posting! - nm

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Thank you for that - looking

[ In Reply To ..]
great to hear from someone who has applied to Andrews also!

I would also compare what they actually teach... - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
When I looked into coding before, CS did not teach inpatient coding, but Andrews did.

I did notice that - looking

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you, that too is great advice! I will do that and did notice on Andrews that you could got both.

CS teaches both now - no message - wannabe coder

[ In Reply To ..]
No message

Just my 2 cents worth - Raine59

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't know much about Career Step as I went to Andrews but I did easily pass the CPC a few months after finishing Andrews without a lot of extra studying.

Have you been able to find a job from home - looking

[ In Reply To ..]
I am wondering about the ability of doing coding from home, i.e. jobs etc. Tx for any info and thanks for your input on Andrews!

Call the schools and ask them about that - Not Raine

[ In Reply To ..]
I found out that if you call the schools, you get different answers. Some will say whatever you want to hear, if that's what it takes to enroll you.

The information from Andrews is that while it's possible to work at home as a coder, coders usually don't work at home, especially until they have some on-site experience. There are some jobs in certain areas where you can, but there are no guarantees that you live in an area where those jobs are available or there will be that kind of job available where you are when you need it. Usually the coders that do work at home have to work on-site for a period of time before they are allowed to go home. There are some exceptions if you want to take a chance on it, of course.

I hope this is helpful. Call the schools and ask them though. They all have different opinions.

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