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

Online MT courses/schools - DH

Posted: Feb 19, 2012

As a current medical profressional I would like to make a career change and take an MT course. Does anyone have any advice as to what to look for in a school?

What to look for in a school? Coding. - Not Joking

[ In Reply To ..]
That is not a good career plan. Consider something else, like coding. It has a brighter future, pays a heck of a lot better, and there is advancement potential in it. Plus, you don't have to type as much.

There are training recommendations on the coding board.

Coding - Janna

[ In Reply To ..]
Talk to ARTs and RRAs before you sign up. In the 1990's as a QA office manager, I worked with ARTs and RRAs who did the coding for our 800-bed hospital. As a group, they were the most frustrated, unhappy and most often on the verge of exploding. The frustration of their work could not be cured because the governmental group that controlled the Medicare and Medicaid cases at that time was implacable (but, boy, did they have beautiful offices) and now, with the insurance companies even stronger, I can't imagine that coding has improved. Most women lasted about 2 years in the department before they started looking for greener pastures, so please talk to the ARTs and RRAs.

View from my perspective - RHIA CCS CPC Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
I regret tha you saw that kind of view of coding. In the early 90s, there were more issues surrounding Medicare and Medicaid, but the difficulty of that may have been worsened by the relative newness of the whole thing and the fact that coding was in tranition from a primarily statistical to a more reimbursement-driven function. Coding was just one of many things record departments did and outpatient coding pretty much did not exist yet. Coding training was fairly limited at one class in a 2 or 4 year program.

It may also be that your hospital had more issues than most, because I do not recall anything like that. The older coders I know do not really describe that, either. It might be that your coders were poorly supported.

Things are a lot different today. Coding is recognized as a unique profession. There are 2 professional organizations and a number of specialized certifications. Coders work in all types of medical care, both inpatient and outpatient, and in a wide variety of coding-related jobs ranging from coding itself to compliance, clinical documentation improvement, and informatics. The burnout rate is very low. The pay is also very good.

There is challenge, but not impossibility. That may be a big difference between then and now. People do not go into cding because they are in HIM. It is not seen as just something else like sticking "sign here" flags on records or pulling charts. It is a highly responsible, important job which requires more specialized training than ever before and naturally selects people who thrive on challenge.

We have not had the RRA and RRT credentials in a looong time . . . things change. Coding changed, too.

I was there in the 1990s and didn't see anything that remotely resembled - what you described

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't believe that was ever the overall picture for coders, although it may have been for the hospital where you worked.

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