In the past my wife did a lot of work with medical records. She has been a stay at home mom for a while and has been doing some transcription closed caption work.

She wants to get into medical coding and is curious about the various schools available. Anyone have any experience with any of the schools?

Depends on what the school will charge and what she can make doing it. I've written health care software (a company called Medicode, not even sure if they still exist) and it is a rabbit hole. No kidding, a rabbit hole.

I deal with medical billing/coding almost every day. If it’s work as an insurance adjuster she’s looking for, it will open almost any door for her. As for billing/coding specialists, I’m not sure what those salaries look like, but it’s still a rather niche field.

-Rob

If she is interested in coding for medical billing I can help.

The bad: It’s very tough to get through all the training required and she will need continual education. Very few people pass the test the first time.

The good: It’s a great job for a stay at home mom (or anyone really) if they can manage the fact that they are really at work even though they are in their home. Most places employ more than one coder so they can tell what your production is. You can work for any billing company in the country with no need to go to the office. You can easily make $25-$40 an hour.


Go to the website called AAPC.
American Academy of Professional coders.

My wife is doing a program through one of our local colleges. Tuition is about $100/credit hour and it’s 12 courses or so. She took this past semester off but will resume class in January. She does the online program. She’s really not the school type and the first two courses have been quite a struggle but she says she wants to finish it. Books are expensive, I think the books cost more than 1/2 of what tuition costs.

One of the appeals of the work is that she can work from home. I think that is best as she’s the type who is late for everything.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
If she is interested in coding for medical billing I can help.

The bad: It’s very tough to get through all the training required and she will need continual education. Very few people pass the test the first time.

The good: It’s a great job for a stay at home mom (or anyone really) if they can manage the fact that they are really at work even though they are in their home. Most places employ more than one coder so they can tell what your production is. You can work for any billing company in the country with no need to go to the office. You can easily make $25-$40 an hour.


Go to the website called AAPC.
American Academy of Professional coders.

I work for one of the largest Health Insurance companies in the world and we employ thousands of coders.

quote:

Originally posted by pingman274:

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
If she is interested in coding for medical billing I can help.

The bad: It’s very tough to get through all the training required and she will need continual education. Very few people pass the test the first time.

The good: It’s a great job for a stay at home mom (or anyone really) if they can manage the fact that they are really at work even though they are in their home. Most places employ more than one coder so they can tell what your production is. You can work for any billing company in the country with no need to go to the office. You can easily make $25-$40 an hour.


Go to the website called AAPC.
American Academy of Professional coders.

I work for one of the largest Health Insurance companies in the world and we employ thousands of coders.

That’s great. It might be useful to give the OP some helpful information.

GF looked into it a few years ago. Local Arizona strip mall school wanted $14K for the course and NO guarantee of job placement.

GF said no thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
If she is interested in coding for medical billing I can help.

The bad: It’s very tough to get through all the training required and she will need continual education. Very few people pass the test the first time.

The good: It’s a great job for a stay at home mom (or anyone really) if they can manage the fact that they are really at work even though they are in their home. Most places employ more than one coder so they can tell what your production is. You can work for any billing company in the country with no need to go to the office. You can easily make $25-$40 an hour.


Go to the website called AAPC.
American Academy of Professional coders.

My wife is a BSN. Would that transfer into the coding field?

quote:

My wife is a BSN. Would that transfer into the coding field?

^^^^
It might help in understanding. CPT codes are constantly changing with new codes being added and others deemed obsolete. Medical coding is tied to reimbursement. As a result, it is subject to audit by Medicare. There must be proper documentation to justify certain codes or you are in trouble.

For the time being, coders are a hot job (certainly in the PA area) but I have to believe anywhere since so many work remotely. I would strongly suggest reaching out to the key healthcare entities HR departments and ask to speak with someone in the revenue cycle side to discuss a possible career path and seek guidance. Most people in healthcare are kind, and will want to help you get a path set.

Be aware of the future of healthcare. Population health and capitated payments might mean coding will be less in demand as fee for service declines? I wouldn't worry too much about it, but I would want to be aware of it and what that means. Which I don't know.

There are a number of coding platforms. Maybe research 3M and TruCode. Dolby and computer assisted coding to get a sense of that space.

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:
My wife is a BSN. Would that transfer into the coding field?

It would probably be an easy transfer of knowlege but there's more to learn of course. I think someone with a BSN might be better served to look to a care coordination position as it relates to controlling healthcare costs for insurers or a healthcare provider org that is working under a capitated payment model.

My wife has been a medical coder specializing in radiology for 10 years. She got into it after losing her bookkeeping job. She took a 4 month fast track training course through a local community college. Getting a first job can be challenging but once in there are jobs out there. My wife gets calls from headhunters on a regular basis.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:
My wife is a BSN. Would that transfer into the coding field?

It would probably be an easy transfer of knowlege but there's more to learn of course. I think someone with a BSN might be better served to look to a care coordination position as it relates to controlling healthcare costs for insurers or a healthcare provider org that is working under a capitated payment model.

Yeah, we've thought of that but finding jobs like those on jobsites is Mission: Impossible or seems like it.

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:
Yeah, we've thought of that but finding jobs like those on jobsites is Mission: Impossible or seems like it.

Strange. Those are high demand positions in my area.

Unfortunately, we live in the outstate area near to SD. All the jobs I find are in the Twin Cities, or SE MN - Mayo clinic and the like.

My brother does medical coding and passed the exam first try. I was told it is very rare to pass it on the first try. Most people need several tries before passing. He works from him and he says that he gets paid very well. God Bless

Hey LV, coming in late to this but my wife was out of town the last few days. As you may remember, she is the billing manager for a group of clinics in the Middle Tennessee area. She says to check out the AAPC site. That is the Association of Professional Coding. Apparently, the clinic is helping out one of the gals that works under my wife. My wife said that they got her a package through AAPC that includes a 1-year membership, books, tuition, etc., plus unlimited testing. That last one is a big deal since most don't pass on the first try. She said the package was about $2500.

AAPC offers training in more than just coding. They also do things like billing, documentation, auditing, and compliance. It would depend on what your wife is truly interested in. My wife also said to take a look at Vandy's job site to see what they offer in the way of working-from-home positions. Similar to AAPC offering training in other areas, Vandy has jobs in areas other than just coding.

If need be, I'm sure she would be happy to talk to your wife to give her an idea of what it's like from a more local perspective.

ICD 10 (and now ICD 11 coming on line) - 2015 and 2022, have roughly more than 70,000 procedure codes, and as many diagnostic codes, compared to about 4,000 and 14,000 comparable codes, respectively, for ICD 9 (1980s), with corresponding complexity. My particular favorite: V91.07, Burn due to water-skis on fire. Closely followed by V97.33XD, Sucked into jet engine, subsequent encounter; and yes, there is a code for Sucked into jet engine, initial encounter (V97.33XA). I've always rather imagined use of the first code (V97.33XA) far exceeds the second (V97.33XD). You can imagine keeping up with these. The need for coders has increased exponentially, and will continue. AAPC is a good resource to start.