Anyone do medical coding/billing?

[BeerAdvocate]

I am thinking about going back to school to become a certified medical coding & billing specialist.
I would have to work full time 7am-3pm and go to school four nights a week from 5-10pm for a year. Not to mention the school is rather expensive ($17,000). Just curious to see if anyone on here does this type of work and has any advice. thanks

[Blueface]

Hmmm.....
Interesting.
I don't do it but have dealt with it extensively in the past, in handling interpretation and proper billing of CPT codes.
Most providers and facilities rely on the CPT codes for billing.
That CPT "bible" book is readily available and not hard to study on your own, if one has the aptitude for it.
Generally five levels of billing for a procedure, depending on the complexity/time involved, etc.
Some overlap.
Not sure what else you will get that is worth $17,000 for someone to train you on.

[kaisersozei]

I just typed up a long post but got booted off when I hit Submit.

Anyway, the gist of it was this:

I'm not a coder, but I've run hospitals & medical practices for years. Coding is a decent career choice if your personality drives you toward accuracy & precision, and you have an analytical mind. As Carlos says, not sure what $17k gets you, as there are on-line resources that will prepare you for the various certification exams. If you haven't already, check out these two sites:

http://www.aapc.com/

http://www.ahima.org/coding/index.asp

The demand for these jobs has been fairly steady. With the advent of Electronic Medical Records, much of the coding process will be automated. EMR adoption is a big part of every federal reform initiative, so they'll be much more prevalent in the next few years. Will change the scope & focus of the job that coders are doing, but I think there will still be a need for these, especially at the institutional level.

Good luck & let me know if you need any help.

[KidRock]

Im also thinking about going into this. I would really like to hear if anyone else has done this.

[bobarian]

I dont know anything about medical coding as a profession. But I can tell you to choose your school carefully. A very high percentage of the "schools" promoting training specific fields such as medical coding, dental hygenist, medical assistant, etc are merely in the business of procuring loans for their students. Education is not the goal, they exist to make money.

Check with some of the employers you plan to target after you receive your certification and ask them if they have a recommendation for an educational path. Or if the certificate is of any advantage when they are hiring.

[kaisersozei]

Originally Posted by bobarian

I dont know anything about medical coding as a profession. But I can tell you to choose your school carefully. A very high percentage of the "schools" promoting training specific fields such as medical coding, dental hygenist, medical assistant, etc are merely in the business of procuring loans for their students. Education is not the goal, they exist to make money.

Check with some of the employers you plan to target after you receive your certification and ask them if they have a recommendation for an educational path. Or if the certificate is of any advantage when they are hiring.

QFT

There are a number of ways to get the proper education as a medical coder, including technical/vocational schools and on-line programs as I mentioned above. Once you graduate and get that coding certificate, you'll need to work for at least 18 months (usually as an "apprentice") before you sit for your certification exam. Becoming certified is the professional standard, and necessary if you want a career or even a better-than-basic entry level job. There are different types of certification, depending on whether you want to concentrate on hospital, payer, or medical specialty coding.

[BeerAdvocate]

Originally Posted by kaisersozei

QFT

There are a number of ways to get the proper education as a medical coder, including technical/vocational schools and on-line programs as I mentioned above. Once you graduate and get that coding certificate, you'll need to work for at least 18 months (usually as an "apprentice") before you sit for your certification exam. Becoming certified is the professional standard, and necessary if you want a career or even a better-than-basic entry level job. There are different types of certification, depending on whether you want to concentrate on hospital, payer, or medical specialty coding.

this is exacttly what I am talking about doing.
The school is a vocational school. They assist you with your apprentice and with taking the coding test.
As I mentioned, its a 12 month course and runs about $17,000!!!!

Originally Posted by bobarian

Or if the certificate is of any advantage when they are hiring.

I can't state the importance of this enough. An easy example here in NYS is that there is no shortage of schools willing to take your money to provide a paralegal "certificate"

But in NYS there are no licensing requirements for paralegals, so you don't need a "certificate" or degree to be a paralegal. Not to say it's NOT considered in the hiring process but point is make sure what you're paying for is something of value.