Any medical coders here?

So here is the deal next year once I have all the boys in all day school I am going to go back to school. First I have to get my GED which is a biggie but easy to do. I can take all the classes I need at the tech. college. So I have been looking into what I want to get a degree or certified in. Medical coding is something I really think I could enjoy and the pay (from what I read is not to bad). So here is my question for those that night already do this. Once you got certified how did you go about finding jobs? I have read that you can either do this from home or in an office setting. I don't really care which one. At home would be nice because I could make sure I am home when the boys get home. But going to an office would be nice just to get out of the house everyday.

 

So if you do this for a living do you really like it? And how do you go about getting a job once you become certified? 

I did medical insurance coding up until 8 yrs ago. I still have friends that do it. There are schools that have classes and you can get certified. It's really a good idea to get certified since that's what most employer want. My brother just got certifed as a phamacy tech. he didn't go to school just studied and went and took test. The test cost 150.00 and he is on the state registar. I don't know if you can do this for medical coding. The schools are up to 2 yrs but those give you a 2 yr degree. Google the info to get certified for coding and see what you get. Good luck.

How did you go about finding a job tho. I have never seen a listing in the paper for a job like this. Does the school help you find a job or do you just go around and ask doctors/hospitals. You know get the word out.

I'm a medical biller.  I just started so I can't give you lots of tips, but I was looking into on-line courses that were a few weeks long.  They recommended learning billing first, which you can work with, & to add coding as well once you knew how to bill.  I ended up training for a few days with a biller my husband (a doc) already knew though.  I will try to find the website that I was looking at since they say they help in placement for work.  Apparently, to make a decent amount doing this, you might want to sign on with more than 1 office.

Here is the website.  Again, I didn't end up using it, but it looked really good.

I might not have helped at all since it's about billing, not coding, but I can't imagine needing 2 years of education for coding either.

Good luck!

*oops*  Double post.  I hate when that happens.

While working for a temp agency, I did some billing/coding work.  It was way too boring for me, but for those who don't mind being chained to a computer desk for 8+ hours at a time, it's decent work for decent pay.  When searching for job opportunities, you should check with temp employment/recruitment agencies that specialize in healthcare positions.  Like poohb said, you may have to work your way up to coding, but at least you'll be gaining work experience in the right field and be able to network for other opportunities that way.

I don't know if this will help you or not, but I am a biller.  The Drs. I work for do their own coding.  To find jobs in this profession, I suggest you search on line for the hospitals in your area.  You can also sign up for Advance HIM magazine.  I get it free in my email inbox and they send it to my house.  I have my degree in Transcription, but I had to take a coding course to get a 2-year associate's degree. 

Many of the jobs are outsourced.  Quite a few have gone overseas.  The labor is much cheaper.  If I had a choice, I would have gone to radiology tech school.  To me that is far more interesting and it is a job that won't be outsourced....but I didn't have a choice and I am glad because I can work from home. 

I took ICD9 and CPT Medical Coding courses (along w/medical terminology) at our local community college.  I really enjoyed these classes and I ended up as a receptionist at a medical clinic while I was still in school so they let me "practice" the coding that I was learning.  I completed these courses and then shortly after that I ended up quiting the clinic and going back to an accounting position.   I did enjoy the coding tho.  I say go for it !!

I never was a coder but I worked in accident claims at an insurance company and had most of the common accident codes memorized and could tell pretty well by the code what the problem was or the treatment by the ICD-9.  It's been a while though.