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Ultimate Medical Academy - Medical billing and coding certificate

Posted: Nov 11, 2014

Does anyone here know anything about ultimate medical academies medical billing and coding certificate or how credible it is?

Wondering why you are considering them. - Flabbergasted

[ In Reply To ..]
Can you explain why you are even considering them?

Did you check the BBB complaints? I did. Lots of complaints about refunds, etc.

I couldn't get to their consumer disclosure info ... or half the rest of their links ... kept getting a message IN RUSSIAN saying sorry, website not found. Is that a GOOD sign?

Read the program description. It says it "can" not that it WILL train you. That is never a good sign.

That is not a coding course. By the title, it is an office billing course. You would not qualify for a job with my employer. We already turned down one from before they changed their name.

You need to educate yourself on student loan scams. If you are unable to tell what is wrong with this one, you are going to be 30K or more in debt with a useless "skill" by this time next year.

High school dropouts and pole dancers in need of sit-down jobs attend schools like this. At one AAPC meeting, a bunch of them wearing their trademark blue scrubs showed up. We thought they were inmates from the jail.

If you want a local program with financial aid, St. Petersburg College has one. Otherwise, the course Andrews offers is excellent and ... yes ... reasonably priced considering that you can actually get legitimate certifications and a job with it.

If you are a dropout, get a GED before considering coding. You cannot certify or work in coding if you have not completed high school.

That's all I'll say. I don't want the mob coming after me. From Tampa or Moscow.

Ultimate Medical Academy - Coding and billing program

[ In Reply To ..]
I am actually not. I already have an RHIT from a technical college and work as a coder. Someone who I worked with in a past job asked me about that school and I said I had no idea about it but it didnt look like anything that would prepare you to code. I actually just was wondering if anyone here knew more. Its not for me.

Glad to hear that! - Not sure it is for anyone, lol.

[ In Reply To ..]
That's a relief!

That kind of school, in general, is suspect.

I know - I was questioning it

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It doesn't look legitimate or that it teaches enough to do coding. I personally wouldn't attend online schools like that unless it was a program affiliated and/or accredited by either the AAPC or AHIMA. I have been coding for close to a year only and that program really doesn't look like much. My degree is an AAS in health information technology.

when a school offers a (their) certificate of - IMANMT2

[ In Reply To ..]
completion it is nothing. The only thing a LEGITIMATE school (not biz college or online hoo hoo) offers that is worth the paper is a degree and that degree is weighed against the name of the school printed on it and handing it out.

Most places won't hire you as a coder unless you're certified. and you can go now and take the test... you just have to cough up the cash about 300 I think. It's a toughie. but you'll get to take your ICD-9 (if you hurry, soon it will be ICD-10, and I'd try to hit that deadline sept. 2015 I think not sure). The world has been ICD-10 for almost a decade and we are finally being drug into it. Don't be surprised for that to be offshore outsourced when our docs and facilities make the transition. Don't spend too much money on your training. Several companies are converting MTs now, do you think it is so they can help keep up with the volume for the Indians when the transition occurs? Seems to be their business model.

So this "certificate" hoo hah is nothing. It's all in the certification test that is proctored (makes you a CPC and/or a CCS, those are the initials. About 2005 they were taking about adding specialties with a - and a letter S for surgery, OB for OB, etc.) And it's timed. I'm not sure if you can take your hicpic book but your ICD used to be okay and of course it has definitions in it and you write in it to help you pass. For coders it's all legal. Now, MT that's a different story, we can't even have a foot pedal (when I checked into it Tulsa and the proctor knew nothing about MT) but AHDI isn't certifying coders (lucky them). Although, I'm sure they have tried hard to get their finger in that pie. They even changed their name.

You need to know a school's first-time pass rate for their students but I wouldn't ask the school/business and expect an honest answer. ;)

AAPC and AHIMA you need to go to their - IMANMT2

[ In Reply To ..]
websites or call them and ask them for info. I think these are the folks that certify. Not that I'm sure they are any different from AHDI.

They will train you, too, for a small or not-so-small fee. ;)

AAPC and AHIMA are much different from AHDI - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
They are legitimate professional organizations. AHIMA represents the entire field of health information management, of which coding is a part.

The exams are difficult. I would not start thinking that the code books make anything easier, because they don't and that is not their purpose. Those definitions in the books are not what the tests ask, lol. If the proctors do not agree that your handwritten notes meet the limitations, you can't use them, so don't go making people think they can fill them full of crib notes. The tests are so closely timed that you won't have time to use crib notes, either.

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