Medical Coding? Anybody know about this work?

barbarella

Anybody familiar with the Medical Coding profession?
Not exactly fitness related....... Healthcare is pretty close eh? :bigsmile:

I'm considering this as a new career....... would have to get proper training & certification.
Ideally I'd like to work at home but know there are lots of "work at home" scams out there.

Any discussion here or private messages are greatly appreciated! Thanks! :flowerforyou:

courtney_love2001

My mom did this, although she was a physician's office manager, so she worked in office. She was a receptionist/biller/coder/transcriptionist...I guess she wore many hats She really enjoyed it and she made good money. I don't really know anything about the profession itself, but she was happy and she learned the software and codes pretty quickly. Wish you the best of luck!

Nikki143

mEDical coders & billers get paid a lot of money!! & you totally can work from home... You just gotta take the classes, and get certified.. its a pain in the *kitten* though.. You have to be REALLY willing to pAy attention to detail.. when that gets screwed up, the MD doesn't get paid.. I learned all this in school, and took 2 medical coding & billing classes.. I much prefer a medical administrative job (cause thats what I am!!)

naugustyniak

I work from home as a medical transcriptionist. I started this 15 years ago and back then there were a lot of jobs so you really didn't need much training except for medical terminology. I do know that transcription and coding jobs from home are pretty scarce if you want to make any money at it. You will need some training but don't go for the quick fix ones that "guarantee" you a job. It is best to go to an accredited college or medical training facility (we have Brown Mackee here) to get your training. Most of the time they will help you find a job. A lot of the physician's offices are outsourcing these types of jobs to companies who only hire at home people because it costs them less. You will most likely be an independent contractor which means you will be responsible for your taxes. There are some benefits to being an independent contractor in that there are some items you can deduct for home office. To be honest, you really can't make a really good living at it working from home unless you want to work a lot of hours. I did it mostly because my kids were small and I wanted to be home with them. My husband makes pretty good money so it was doable. Like any job, there are pros and cons. Most of the time though a company will not hire you for at home work unless you have some experience outside the home in a hospital or doctor's office. Send me a message if you have any more questions, hope that helped some. Like I said, I do transcription but while coding and transcription are different in training and such, they are pretty much the same for the at home stuff.

naugustyniak

mEDical coders & billers get paid a lot of money!! & you totally can work from home... You just gotta take the classes, and get certified.. its a pain in the *kitten* though.. You have to be REALLY willing to pAy attention to detail.. when that gets screwed up, the MD doesn't get paid.. I learned all this in school, and took 2 medical coding & billing classes.. I much prefer a medical administrative job (cause thats what I am!!)

I don't know for sure where you live, but coders and billers I know don't really get paid a lot of money (I guess it depends on what you consider a lot of money though). Most of the people I know who do it, have to have a second income to make ends meet. You will need training and certification.

Nikki143

mEDical coders & billers get paid a lot of money!! & you totally can work from home... You just gotta take the classes, and get certified.. its a pain in the *kitten* though.. You have to be REALLY willing to pAy attention to detail.. when that gets screwed up, the MD doesn't get paid.. I learned all this in school, and took 2 medical coding & billing classes.. I much prefer a medical administrative job (cause thats what I am!!)

I don't know for sure where you live, but coders and billers I know don't really get paid a lot of money (I guess it depends on what you consider a lot of money though). Most of the people I know who do it, have to have a second income to make ends meet. You will need training and certification.

I heard that they get paid 50 per hour(obvi, not starting out!lol), I actually know a guy whop gets paid 50 big ones an hour

justsalad

I learned medical coding, through my medical administration course, it's alright I guess, whatya wanna know?

naugustyniak

Here is a site that a couple of my friends suggested

http://www.medicalcodingcareerguide.com/chapterone/earn.html

Average pay was about $45,000 per year. The more experience you have the better pay. You will need to have schooling and in most cases a license. I have two friends who do this at home and make about $18-20 an hour and have been doing it for 4-5 years. Jobs are pretty hard to come by for at home positions especially. Hope this helps some.

mmnichol

I work in a hospital as a transcriptionist and the coders for the hospital work in another department. They get paid a bit more than I do, but these people have been in their jobs for years!!!!! No openings at all and they require certification and experience. I don't know about the home industry in this line, but as above alot of these jobs are being outsourced to outside companies.

Good luck with that if that's the direction your going. Do you have any medical experience??

keiko

I am currently taking classes toward a degree in Health Information Technology and coding is part of it. I am taking ICD-9-CM coding this semester. So far I'm finding it very interesting. AHIMA.org will give you a lot of information. Here is a link to one of the coding certification sites http://www.ahima.org/medicalcoding/medical_coding_certification.asp

If you have any specific questions you can PM me.

barbarella

THANKS for all the comments everybody! MFP peeps rock! :flowerforyou: :bigsmile:

Woweee..... the info about this career is all over the place, salaries are high and/or low!?! The labor board says this is a growing field as health care in general is always needed, esp. with a huge aging population.

BUT, what happens in local markets must be a different story altogether. For ex., there was a recent newspaper article here in Portland, OR about unemployment. One woman got laid off two years ago and hasn't been able to find a job. She has 30 years experience + a master's degree and was only making $19 an hour doing insurance billing! She can't even get a $10 an hour job because she's overqualified.

OK..... maybe I'll just sell stuff on eBay instead???? :grumble: :laugh: :bigsmile:

barbarella

Here is a site that a couple of my friends suggested

http://www.medicalcodingcareerguide.com/chapterone/earn.html

Average pay was about $45,000 per year. The more experience you have the better pay. You will need to have schooling and in most cases a license. I have two friends who do this at home and make about $18-20 an hour and have been doing it for 4-5 years. Jobs are pretty hard to come by for at home positions especially. Hope this helps some.

Excellent website........ thanks! :bigsmile: :flowerforyou:

barbarella

I am currently taking classes toward a degree in Health Information Technology and coding is part of it. I am taking ICD-9-CM coding this semester. So far I'm finding it very interesting. AHIMA.org will give you a lot of information. Here is a link to one of the coding certification sites http://www.ahima.org/medicalcoding/medical_coding_certification.asp

If you have any specific questions you can PM me.

This one too.......... !!! :bigsmile: :flowerforyou: