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


Just a note about coding courses - sm


Posted: Sep 03, 2013

Coding courses do not all teach the same thing.  You need to be very aware of that when deciding on one.  A course that looks like a fantastic bargain will contain less.

Some teach only outpatient "office" coding.  That does not require as much medical background or as much coding instruction.   They are shorter and less costly.  The AAPC  courses are outpatient only.  25% of these coders are unable to find jobs, especially without experience.

Others teach both outpatient and inpatient.  These take longer and have to teach more.

There are also 2-in-1 programs which purport to teach one course but to cover both types of coding at once.  They are relatively unsuccessful due to the difficulty of sorting them out.

You do get what you pay for and the effort you expend now will have results later.

 

I agree - Current student

[ In Reply To ..]
I did a ton of research before I finally chose a school. I knew I wanted to learn both inpatient and outpatient coding. When I did the math on the cost of taking separate courses for each, it would have cost me a lot more than I am spending right now to learn both.

Since I am an MT and had already taken A&P and medical terminology, I was given the option to "opt out" of these, but I chose to take the full course. They way I look at it, it certainly doesn't hurt me to re-review in these areas, especially because with ICD-10, coders will really need to know their A&P! I am just about finished with my schooling and, while it hasn't been easy, I agree with the OP, you get what you pay for and you definitely get what you put into it.

which one - curious

[ In Reply To ..]
which course would you recommend then??


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