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

Trying to decide between enrolling in a medical coding course or a physical therapy assistant course - Anon

Posted: Sep 20, 2011

TIA :-)

Ok - well

[ In Reply To ..]
What do you think you would like better? They are two vastly different fields. I don't know you or your personality type, so I'd at least need more information to give you a basic opinion =]

Go with what cannot be outsourced - Old part-timer

[ In Reply To ..]
Coding can be outsourced or possibly computerized once the Electronic Health Record goes into effect. They will still need physical therapy assistants, so I would say that is the better choice.

Check to see if Physical Therapy Careers are in demand or overrun in your area - See message

[ In Reply To ..]
There have been times when everybody wanted to get into Physical Therapy jobs. Be sure they haven't been overrun with applicants in your area. I would recommend finding out if they have a professional organization. At least talk to a few of them. See if they are smiling, snarling or looking for a way out. Attend some of their meetings if you can. See if they have message boards like this one that you can go to and see what kinds of topics they are discussing.

Myself, I would go with Phys. Therapy. Coding is - already being outsourced in some places.

[ In Reply To ..]
Better to find a job that actually needs a real person present in order to do it. If a job can be done on a computer, it can and will be sent offshore.

I've never seen coding being outsourced - See question

[ In Reply To ..]
I've been in coding for years and haven't seen any coding being outsourced. It sounds like you have. Could you give the names of the places that are doing the outsourcing? I'm curious about exactly how they are doing that and I would like to check it out. I don't doubt that other countries are trying to sign up coding for outsourcing, but I don't think they have very many takers. If you know of more than half a dozen, I definitely want to check them out and see if it's a trend or just a foreign-owned company or two doing what foreign-owned companies do, which is a great reason never to work for those companies in the first place.

Some of the MTSOs are also offering coding now. - That is outsourcing.

[ In Reply To ..]
.

??? - Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
On the surface, a comment like that ("if it can be done on a computer, it can and will be sent offshore") sounds good, but making that claim tells us that the person who made it does not have a good understanding of the purpose of coding or the factors affecting it. Any MTSOs who are "doing coding" are doing trivial coding, at the most. They aren't doing the real deal.

Coding is the basis for hospital reimbursement, and reimbursement is a complicated and high-stakes operation. Hospitals struggle to get paid. There can be thousands of dollars difference between choosing one code and another, and huge fines for coding incorrectly and receiving improper payment.

Now, there is also the issue of privacy violations--breaches are occurring almost every day, some are occurring in association with offshoring, and all of that is making facilities take a very close look at letting anything out of their own hands.

It is possible to strip dictation of patient identification, but it is not possible to do that with entire medical records. You would just about have to let an offshore entity into your hospital computer system to offshore, and the likelihood of anyone agreeing to that is very low now.

Just a few years ago, it was assumed that offshore companies would, of course, abide by our standards. Some even assumed that our laws would apply to them. But they don't and healthcare executives are now becoming aware that they have no control over what goes offshore and that they will be held liable for anything that goes wrong.

Those two factors are steadily eroding the interest anyone might have had in offshore coding.

Two other things almost prevent offshoring. One is the uniqueness of coding at any given facility. Each organization has its own policies and situation. It is hard to understand this until you have done more than entry-level coding, but it's a reality and it's important.

The other thing is that coding is closely tied to physician documentation. Coders interact a good bit with physicians to get what they need to code accurately. Sending the coding offshore would make this more difficult.

When most people on this board speak of coding, they are thinking of entry-level positions. They seem to be thinking more of BILLING positions, not coding. Many are thinking of doctor's office positions in which the "coder" copies codes from charge tickets onto claim forms, and I get the impression that they think it's much the same at a hospital.

Coding is a lot more than that. The skill of coding is something a lot of higher level jobs use or are based upon. There is a lot of room in coding to move upward and laterally into more complicated jobs that aren't the sort of thing that can be outsourced.

MT has only one type of job -- MT. Coding has a lot more. MTs, because they have a view of a world in which there is one job, tend to look at coding as having that same kind of limited "one job."

If you are considering coding, you might want to educate yourself more about the kinds of jobs available in health information that all use coding in some way. Coding itself can be a job, but it is also the doorway to much more.

There are several kinds of coding with varying difficulties, so there is advancement into a high-pay specialty area like interventional radiology. There are also jobs in coding consulting and auditing, coder and provider training, compliance, data management, clinical documentation improvement, and informatics. None of those are going to be outsourced and they pay a lot more than PTA, too.

go with PT - raydonia

[ In Reply To ..]
PT is an honorable profession that actually can benefit people. Coding is massaging data for maximum profit. Not to say that coding isn't challenging... it is, and in some settings it pays well, but if you care about people, learn physical therapy. You'll be glad you did.

Coding - PTtoMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Prior to being an MT I worked in orthopedic rehabilitation as a clinician. I was not a PT but held a board certification and degree in a closely related field and did very similar work. I would not suggest PTA because their are minimal jobs available. What we saw in the 80s and into the 90s was a shortage of PTs and PTAs. Then people were going to PTA school in droves and it became a saturated work force. Now reimbursements are low and fewer jobs are available but we still have a deep and qualified work force.

There is a tremendous amount of misinformation out there about many healthcare careers. One great example is that nurses have their choices of jobs. That really is not the case. Everyone wants experience and although a new nursing graduate may have an easier time finding a lucrative job than a new MT graduate, you can still find plenty of unemployed new graduates. PTA jobs are extremely slim and eve slimmer for new graduates. I would research this by contacting HR departments of our local hospitals. I would not rely on employment statistics from the PTA school.

Coding on the other hand is moving to ICD10 and a coder with training in ICD10 and certifications from AHIMA could find many opportunities. My hospital right now has about 10 entry level coding positions open. They require certification through AHIMA, of course. On the other hand, we have no PTA positions available.

These are 2 very different lines of work though. Do you enjoy hands on patient care? Are you up for assisting with debridement of a wound crawling with maggots? Do you enjoy a desk job? Does sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day drive you crazy? I'd first and foremost consider job availability for qualified new graduates, but then I would also consider which one you'll enjoy.

Your hospital has 10 entry-level coding jobs and no PT(A) jobs? - Very Interesting!

[ In Reply To ..]
I have heard for years that the PT job market was saturated. That's not something I would do anyway. Hands-on patient care appeals to some people, but that just isn't for me, for lots of reasons. I think you described one of them very well. LOL. (I guess that's not something to laugh at).

Do you mind saying what part of the country you live in? The idea of those 10 entry-level coding positions sounds inviting.

I wouldn't pick either of those - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I am an MT making the coding transition. I am almost finished with my program and will be taking my CPC soon. After being in this program, I've decided sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours looking up codes is too much like being an MT. It's also very difficult to code. You have to know what you're doing. It's also quite boring. Physical therapy assistant is what my SIL does and she hates it. Just her experience, I know, but she comes home exhausted and has back problems. If I were you, look into other things. Ultrasound tech, medical assistant, LPN maybe?, x-ray tech. Something that keeps you busy, isn't too boring and can't be sent overseas!

Coding in my first course was boring and dull, but I also wasn't really coding - MT/Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
I think it's unfair for any person to decide what will be boring to someone else. I've done hands-on patient care and I've also done coding as well as medical transcription. I prefer working at a desk. The physically exhausting moving patients around plus the endless hours of sitting and waiting between patients, just wasn't my cup of tea, although I'm glad it works for those who love it!

It's the same thing with coding. Some people love it and others don't. I love it! My first course in coding was like an Introduction course. I shudder to think about how many people thought they could code after finishing that one. It was also boring, because we didn't know anything. We weren't really coding.

My second course was a real coding course that was geared to prepare people for the Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) credentials and the CPC as well. There is nothing boring about it to me. You have to have medical knowledge, you can't put your brain on neutral and coast because you have to stay alert to special circumstances that you're coding.

I also like the fact that it doesn't give you back problems from heavy lifting (helping patients onto tables, wrestling x-ray and ultrasound equipment, etc.) and there are no split shifts.

I believe that there are people who are unsuited for "desk jobs" and will only be happy with physical work. There are others who would be bored with doing the same physical duties hour after hour and find working at desks more rewarding. There is no one-size-fits-all job, which is a good thing.

I am taking a coding course currently... SM - OP

[ In Reply To ..]
But I am worried that I wont be able to find a job... Yes, I can take any job just to get my foot in the door, but "any job" means 10 dollars an hour. I am a single mom of 3 kids with no hardly any child support at all. One of my kids is a toddler and would need FT daycare if I took a job out of the house (currently I am an MT working nights while everyone sleeps, and waking up at 6 a.m. to get kids ready for school... after maybe 4-1/2 hours of sleep.... decided to put my youngest in daycare 3 days a week and start working during the day so that I can get some sleep at night, but my work is in a pool and apparently EVERYONE works during the day and the work dries up).

Anyway, I feel that coding is the right job for me. I am one who enjoys sitting at a desk all day, being left alone to pound out the work. That is my dream job!!! I used to be able to do that with MT and make 20 to 25 an hour. I took on the coding course to replace MT... in hopes to make 20 an hour sitting at a desk all day.

I just keep reading about how hard it is to get a coding job and I feel I need to do something with my life NOW. I am 36 with three kids. Kids are getting older, expenses getting greater. Im just really really really freaked out right now. There is no room for error at this point in my life. I feel PTA would be the safer choice, yet would be the hardest to accomplish, as I would not be able to work for 2 years while I attend college.

Its just all so difficult!

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