WAHM Forums

for soooooooooooooo long about what I want to do when I go back to
work!! I am looking at coding and feel I could do a good
job. I am a very quick learner and type fast. My question
is: how much people interaction is there with a coding
position?? Can you describe a typical day?? I know I would
start out working in a Dr.s' office (most likely) Also, how would
you compare the online programs versus attending classes to get
cerified??



I apologize if my questions are repeated ones. I appreciate any info you can provide!smileys/smiley4.gif

Depending where you work, your workday may be different. In a doctor's office, if the office is small, the coder will also help with other office tasks. If the office is larger, then the coder will sit w/ a stack of patient medical records, hopefully in a quiet space, and will code them, and get them ready to be billed. If you also know billing, then you may also do the billing as well. There is not much, if any, patient interaction as a medical coder. More and more medical coders are finding ways to work at home. To my absolute horror, I saw one coder come into my doctor's office holding a huge stack of patient medical records that she'd coded and was returning. That was a scary thought. However, I've heard of some coders working at home and accessing the patient record through a server. This is much more safe.

Billing is also a great at home job. It is harder to find billing clients though because you have to sell them on the idea of allowing you to do the billing at home electronically. However, it is lucrative. I have a friend who has two billing clients and is bringing in gross $7500 a month. She uses Medisoft Patient Accounting software, which is very expensive as are the updates for it. She loves it. She obtained her clients doing a mass mailing in her area. Four clients responded and she chose two out of those four. She works about 4 hours per day 5 days a week. This person used to own a small MT service but wanted out of the business after having been in it for many years.

Quality training is necessary to learn medical coding, but it's not nearly as difficult as some people try to make it out to be. Some people wish to get a HIM degree through a local community college. I guess it depends what your real goals are. I know someone who went through a local vocational school and got a job in a doctor's office making $12 an hour to start. If your goal is to do hospital coding, I would suggest going for more advanced education. Hospitals seldom take non-certified coders. They want the highest level coding credentials. Many doctor's offices will take non-certified coders. You can learn, in my opinion, enough to successfully do doctor's office coding through some of the better online schools. The course should prepare you to pass AHIMAs CCA credentialing exam.

The things to look out for are schools that say they "certify" you when you graduate. That is impossible. Anyone can hand you a certificate and "say" you are certified but REAL certification comes from AHIMA and the AAPC only. If you do a Google search for "online medical transcription training" it should pull up the top schools and several offer medical coding training as well. Also, I believe that AHIMA offers a correspondence course for medical coding. Like with any type of training, you need to be careful about making sure you choose a reputable and quality program.

Edited by: Homegirl