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From medical transcriptionist to medical coordinator - Cheryl

Posted: May 19, 2011

Where can I get information about transitioning from a medical transcriptionist to a medical coordinator?

Federally funded TUITION-PAID training for NEW JOBS - Projected 50,000 EHR-related new jobs

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I just attended a webinar yesterday that discussed creation of completely new jobs from implementation of the EHR, working for providers putting these systems in place, using them, and training others. Many of these new jobs are available right now and going unfilled, with more to come.

A website I just googled for basic information on this is http://www.hitpdc.org. This is a simple site listing some of the tuition-paid programs and job titles. Many training programs (typically community colleges across the country) are on line and last anywhere from about 4 to 6 months to a year.

HIMSS has a lot more on this, plus a job line/Jobmine positions available now and a resume posting function. Then try looking up "ONC HITECH Programs" "Roles for MTs in the EHR" "The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)" for more information than you can handle, including projected pay levels (very good!) at ONC. Some schools say some certificate programs require a college degree, while other colleges do not. Shop around.

HIMSS? - Curious

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Who is HIMSS please? Thanks.

Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (sm) - pumpernickel

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HIMSS is for healthcare IT. The jobs are generally not certificate programs, usually require a bachelor's or higher in computer science, health informatics (aka healthcare information systems), or similar. The jobmine does list some medical records department jobs, but the focus of HIMSS is really on healthcare IT. I am a member and also working on my bachelor's for this.

Yes and no. Someone who researched found colleges - varied in their requirements for acceptance for

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the same courses of study. I also visited a college site just this morning that said they were considering doing away with their degree requirement for one of the 6 covered by federal funding; it sounded like a strong hint to check back next term.

In any case, strong demand for people to fill these empty desks is expected to greatly outpace supply, which will create further pressure on lowering the requirement. They are all currently jobs in IT administration, focused on enabling the implementation of the EHR in many thousands of offices and institutions across the country.

Plus, we do bring experience in the medical field, if not the IT experience preferred by the colleges. We talk their language. Again, anyone interested should go shopping among the hundreds of institutions offering these courses.

This is a great opportunity for anyone interested. Free schooling for an in-demand job that pays much better than this one. They all require the ability to think, work independently and in groups, and come up with answers for others, though.

Where do you see free schooling? I'm not seeing it - jo

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All I see is schools given money to make programs, not free tuition.

Go to the ONC site. There are 6 specific job titles with - training funded by the federal government. NM

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x

This is nice and all, but . . . - Stephanie

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What kind of income can these positions make? Too could you do this type of job from home or do you have to go clock in an office?

There's the rub - Probably would have to work in office - I attended webinar also (SM)

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I also did some research on the job possibilities and the federally funded training. I kept hoping I would find that there would be lots of slots for at-home work, but it does not look like that is the case. The HIT (health information technology) training is to help practices implement EHR, manage their work flow, and even become an EHR trainer - all of which will probably require leaving the house!

So, if I am going to have to work outside the home anyway, I will now have to think about what I really want to do - I think I would prefer coding to technology.

ALL the jobs listed on HIMSS require DEGREES. - Seeker

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This all sounds great, but every single opening posted on the HIMSS board requires either a Bachelor's degree or an Associates degree. A "certification" isn't going to cut it!

No, they do not. Many ask for degrees. For good earnings - you want one of those with a back door in. Most

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"degree" jobs actually have back doors, but those are taken by people who walk around to look for another entry instead of hunching their shoulders and going off defeated. THIS back door is through a 4-6 month curriculum for some, or a 1-year curriculum for others, with tuition either reimbursed or paid as you go.

As I said on another thread, demand is going to be big, and because these are NEW positions, people newly trained will fill most of them. For the same reason, there will be various doors in. Some colleges will waive the requirement for a degree if they like what else you have to offer (such as experience working with physicians), others will likely drop for some programs entirely.

The tuition-paid programs are not the goal, though, just the door to good, better-paid jobs and a more affluent lifestyle. A current IC MT could certainly educate herself, print up some business cards, and go sell her skill to current clients and pick up others. These offices and facilities out there NEED help. Others could go take IT classes outside these programs and then go apply for a job, although personally I'd go shopping among the hundreds of paid programs being offered out there first. Applied and not accepted? Take a couple of classes at a local college and apply again.

Now, let's face it, MT has a full range of people of different abilities, backgrounds, and education. Included in this are a certain number of low-achievers who aren't doing well even as MTs. These challenging new lines of work are not for them, they're for the others. They're for people who like the idea of learning something new and being part of building something new, but they're NOT rocket science. They're midrange office support work for intelligent can-do people.

I personally do not want to do administrative work again, even though I'm good at it, so will not be applying, but I'm enjoy the thought of taking on something new and gave it some heavy thought before deciding not to pick up this gold plum that's fallen in my lap saying "please have me."

Spare us - Realist

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Spare us all the lecture on atttitude, etc. We neither need nor want it.
Anyone who takes the time to look into these programs obviously is interested and motivated or they wouldn't have done the cursory research.

The point is still VALID: All 25 positions posted on 3 pages of listings require a degree. And you expect us to believe that a 6-month "certificate" from a small community college is a substitution for a four-year bachelor's? I want to see some PROOF of that, not pie-in-the-sky promises.

Realist, I worked in 2 different industries before this one - at jobs that "required" college degrees. My

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college years were punctuated with 2 babies and a temporarily disabled husband, and I only have about 3 years, with no certificate or degree of any kind, not even a solid major. I never went back the last time because I got a very well paid job "requiring" a degree without one. Unlike this, though, it didn't fall in my lap. I went looking for it and then invested half a year working as an assistant to the position I wanted.

This answer is directed not just at you but at any person who browses this and is interested in making more money at something more interesting with a better future. The only jobs that require a degree have that requirement included in state or federal laws specifically governing that position. And even those probably have back doors.

Yes, and ALL these jobs require experience - Realist

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You rah-rah types are HYPING THIS, getting people's hopes up.

I spent a few hours this morning researching admission requirements for two schools. It took so long because one school was very, very vague while the other was quite specific.

It turns out that both schools REQUIRE prior experience that is directly related to the "role" you want to pursue. If you have never done EMR implementation, trained others on how to use various software programs, etc. you DO NOT QUALIFY for most of these positions (one school I checked into offers six, the other four, and one of those is for THOSE WITH CLINICAL EXPERTISE [nurses, etc.] ONLY, so that leaves five and three roles left, respectively). *IF* the only thing you have is extensive MT experience, you may qualify for the TRAINER position. The TRAINER position is the lowest-paid of them all and NOT the one I wanted to apply for. Too bad for me because the schools MATCH your prior experience with the role, i.e. YOU DO NOT GET TO CHOOSE which role; THEY PICK IT FOR YOU.

Will this increase skill set and make us more marketable? YES! But PLEASE stop the HYPE!! You are doing people a real disservice with this disinformation.

Thank you for this informative post. - Will check it out. nm

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nm

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