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

mt training with Penn Foster - mtstar7

Posted: Apr 17, 2013

Would anyone care to share their experience with Penn Foster online mt career traing? Thanks.

don't - Effielin

[ In Reply To ..]
Don't train to be a MT. The good days in thsi profession are over... most of the work is sent to India now.

Especially not somewhere like Penn Foster. Andrews is the only school - I'd recommend, IF recommending any.

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Which I'm not and never would, since MT is definitely a dying profession.

NOT dying - Just

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Changing!

Well, it may be that there MIGHT always be jobs for those who will work for less than minimum wage.. - Mom22dogs

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....but it DEFINITELY IS dying as a job one can make a living at!

Well, the changes include difficulty....... - in finding jobs and...

[ In Reply To ..]
KEEPING jobs! I know, I used to be on my jobs for a long period of time, before they "went away" and it was very easy to find a new one. I would apply and test and usually have an offer the same day. Now, there are not near as many ads for hiring MTs and the ones hiring are the same old ones. They just don't need as many MTs as they used to, so regardless if it is just "changing" and the income is less, there is not a "need" for MTs as it was in the past.

Re: Penn Foster - Old Pro

[ In Reply To ..]
I would not hire anyone with such a credential. I wanted my people to have the SUM program and a far more extensive program. I would not recomment that you do MT training at all (it is a dying field), but if you do, Andrews is the only viable choice.

Penn Foster - Holly

[ In Reply To ..]
If I were to start such a program today, I'd make sure it was approved by ADHI, which Penn Foster apparently is not based on a quick preview of the ADHI's list of approved programs this evening. Other programs provide for much more transcription practice-something you'll appreciate once you start transcribing reports.

However, as the graduate of two of Penn Foster's certificate programs, I feel that many of its Career School programs provide EXCELLENT value for the tuition. I see that they have revised the curriculum for their Medical Transcription Diploma program and now give graduates of that program 16 credits towards an Associate Degree in Medical Assisting, a degree that fulfills educational requirements to be either a CMA or a RMA.

I don't know if you already have a job in a medical institution or if you intend to do transcription at home. I haven't yet competed the Medical Transcription course I started, in large part due to the discouragement I have felt at watching the rates per line drop and knowing that the Department of Labor has been revising their estimate of growth in this field downward.

If you have not finished, found a job, and - worked successfully

[ In Reply To ..]
You are in no position to speak on the quality of a program.

PF students are famous on internet boards like this one. For years, in all their previous incarnations, their graduates would appear crying that no one would hire them and they just didn't know why ... why wouldn't anyone give them a chance!

MT is very difficult work. Large employers have never hired but from 3 programs, simply because nobody else taught enough or because they graduated students who had no business being accepted into them in the first place. And one of those programs had a poor success rate.

Now, the only one left worth a shot is Andrews.

If you absolutely must work in MT, you need to be well-prepared now more than ever because pay is low and jobs are harder. Steer clear of schools that sound good because they are cheaper because that is what they are ... cheap.

You are making assumptions.... - Holly

[ In Reply To ..]
I am currently enrolled in one of those three medical transcription programs from which MT companies recruit. I am not studying transcription at Penn Foster.

Since one of my two certificates from Penn Foster was taken as a review of the Professional Certificate in Accounting which I completed at the University of California in San Diego, I feel I am in a position to judge the quality and comprehensiveness of THAT particular Penn Foster program. If I had bought the business textbooks they included at Amazon.com, I would have been out more money than what I paid Penn Foster in tuition. Now that I want a broader background in medical records than that supplied by my "Big 3" medical transcription course, I enrolled in one of Penn Foster's medical office-related certificates. So far, I am satisfied with the curriculum.

You were notclear about that - in your post

[ In Reply To ..]
Your post did not make that clear.

I can also tell you that attempting to get any kind of "medical records" training from Penn Foster is ill-advised because they are not accredited by AHIMA. No one is going to accept the training and you will be ineligible for the registry exams.

General knowledge, not aiming for registry exams - Holly

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you for pointing that out. If I wanted any AHIMA certifications, I'd be enrolled in a one-year post-baccalaureate program that is accredited by AHIMA. I just want a general understanding of medical coding and billing. For that, Penn Foster's certificate program meets my requirements.

Most people do not have money to waste - Interested in a job

[ In Reply To ..]
That sems to be the problem with Penn Foster . . . it is all introduction or general knowledge, Kind of vague and purposeless.

If you have the money to spend on that, more power to you, but is it really appropriate to recommend them?

Really, if you needed a job, not just some hobbyist kind of overview, you sure would be doing an AHIMA-accredited RHIA program. Especially if it only took a year.

The thing is that people who are know little about a field except that they are enrolled in a course are in no position to advise others on the quality of that course.

Yes, it is appropriate to recommend them - Holly

[ In Reply To ..]
What facts do you have to back up your statement: That seems to be the problem with Penn Foster . . . it is all introduction or general knowledge, Kind of vague and purposeless.

Have you ever completed a program at Penn Foster? I have, two of them. I do know the value and depth those two programs provided. The accounting program covered the same amount of material at the same depth as I covered in a program that was equivalent to nine months of full-time study at a university-hardly a simple introduction or general knowledge. The medical office administration certificate was approximately equivalent to what was covered in San Diego's ROP (adult career education) medical office administration program-nothing in depth, but certainly a good *INTRODUCTION* to what goes on in the paper-shuffling side of an office. I am not recommending their medical transcription program because, as you point out, I'm not yet an experienced transcriptionist.

Respectfully disagree - BTDT

[ In Reply To ..]
It is not true that large employers only hire from 3 programs. That would mean that we all went to the same school. Where I live, no one has heard of the Andrews School(sorry) and over the years I have worked with MTs who had been nurses and also came to MT from other walks of life who were excellent transcriptionists. I received my education through a community college and was hired for an acute care position straight out of school. I am considered to be an excellent MT and was quite successful before all the changes began to occur (i.e., outsourcing, which was money driven). A program can never teach it all and a lot is learned in the work place. A lot has to do with the aptitude of the student to begin with, and what they do with their education. I would not advise anyone to choose MT as a career at this point, but people who did not attend Andrews have (and do) get hired.

The discussion was about a new MT - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
There has never been a problem for new MTs . . . the issue was schooling that would enable a new MT to get hired, and that would most likely be a national.

Oops! - Holly

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you for pointing out that there are many paths to becoming a medical transcriptionist, not just the "big 3" or "big 2" online programs. I should not have described the program I'm enrolled in as I did.

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