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

Jumping professions - sm

Posted: Jan 06, 2010

I am medical transcriptionist contemplating jumping over to coding, is this an easy transition? Has anybody else done this? Any information/stories would be helpful as I contemplate this decision. TIA!!

jumping - keep in mind

[ In Reply To ..]
Keep in mind that everyone is doing this now, and that this is also being offshored.

I am curious - cj

[ In Reply To ..]
I actually do not know of any place that is sending coding off shore. Can you possibly name any of these entities or tell me where you found that information?

jumping - J

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I was an MT and transitioned into coding. I wouldnâ��t say it is an easy transition because coding is very different from transcription. I would say though that knowing the medical terminology does give you a leg up. As a transcriptionist, as you are transcribing all those op notes and H&Ps, you have an idea of where they are in the body, what they are doing, how to spell the terms, and if they say something that is totally medically out of whack. In coding, the knowledge you need is different, more intense knowledge of A&P, pathophysiology, pharmacology. But, at least you wonâ��t be starting from scratch and be totally in the dark with the terminology. When you take a course, you learn the basics, but large part of the learning happens when you begin the real work. I can tell you that I understand why employers want people with 2-3 years' experience. There is a lot to work through and keep up with and that really doesnâ��t begin until you begin!

Jumping - Ellie

[ In Reply To ..]
I had been an MT for over 8 years until I lost my job 4 months ago. After a discouraging 4 months, I have signed up to take the AHIMA coding program. I am nervously excited about it, particularly about how different it will be from transcription and how difficult it may be to find a job with no experience. Thanks for all of your info, J; it is nice to hear from someone who has been through this. May I ask how difficult it was for you to find employment with no coding experience?

Luck - j

[ In Reply To ..]
I expressed an interest and I was lucky enough to be able to help out on missing dx coding when I was still working as an MT at the same hospital. I was also studying coding and was able to get my CCS and CPC-H. Then picked up more and finally just transitioned over when Tx work load was dramatically cut due to VR.

Thanks - Ellie

[ In Reply To ..]
That is how I hear a lot of people get into coding...by doing it here and there and finally making the final leap. Glad to hear it worked out for you. I am hoping to take and pass the CPC exam when I am done with my coding education.

Switching to Coding - Linda Andrews

[ In Reply To ..]
I used to think that nurses made the best Medical Coders. They don't often make the best Medical Transcriptionists because people don't need excellent spelling and proofreading skills to get into hands-on patient care. Those who have those skills + nursing do really great. Now I've found that Medical Transcriptionists make excellent Medical Coders. That's because we know what information is included in a medical report and where to find it.

In order to be marketable, a brand new Medical Coding graduate is going to have to be certified. A CCA doesn't really do it though. You need to go for a CCS (AHIMA) or CPC (AAPC). I have a school which teaches both MT and Coding. We've found that our graduates tend to do well when they go for Coding certification right after graduating. The level of education you get in coding determines whether you'll be able to do that, but it's important. Employers tell me, "We aren't a school. we don't want new graduates." I ask, "What if they are certified?" "Then we'd have to take a look at them, because we need Coders."

So the answer is, it isn't particularly easy and it does take time if you are going to do it well, but it would be easier for MTs and nurses than for most.

with all due respect.... - cj

[ In Reply To ..]
I think there is some very misleading information here. It is not recommended, even by AHIMA, that one pursue CCS without a couple of years of coding experience. You only have to look at the statistics for pass/fail rate for the test to understand why. Yes, a few people will pass right out of school, but the majority will not. The pass rate averages usually only about 60% (the exact figures can be found on the AHIMA web site) and that figure includes experienced coders. The CCA was designed specifically for that reason and will be recognized in the hiring process. To say otherwise is really misleading prospective new coders. If your school has a very high pass rate for CCS, I would say you must be doing an excellent job but would ask that you provide statistics of such before making that promise. do you know what percentage of your graduates pass the exam without coding experience?

Certification After Graduation - Linda Andrews

[ In Reply To ..]
Those are good points. I confess that I've never looked at the pass/fail rate published by AHIMA. That's very interesting. I always knew it was a difficult test, but that's amazing!

As far as our own graduates and their pass/fail rate, I only know what they report to me. Is it possible that someone took it and failed? Sure. That could easily happen. We're a very small school, so I pretty much know who is sitting for the exam most of the time though and I'm always waiting to see how they did. I can't promise that all of our graduates would be able to pass that test, because I know that wouldn't be true. I'm very pleased when they do. Not everyone wants to try it. As we grow bigger, our pass/fail rate may change. I hope not, but I think it would have to.

Thanks for the information on the pass/fail rate. I spend quite a bit of time on the AHIMA web site, but I didn't know that was published there.

How many? - Gretchen

[ In Reply To ..]
Since you are a very small school, surely you must know exactly how many graduates you have had to date. How many?

Of those graduates, you mention some of them may have taken the exams or not. Of those graduates who have notified you that they took the exams, how many took the exams, which exams, and how many actually passed?

percentage - Jm

[ In Reply To ..]
That would be a great selling point for your school if you did have statistics of how many went on and passed those exams. They are very tough exams! In the coder forums (AHIMA, AAPC) there are always prospective students asking questions about where to get a "GOOD" coding education.

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