Anyone here a medical coder?

[frugalone]

An online friend suggested recently that I think about a couple of different careers.
One of which is medical coder. She says you don't need a lot of training. She said her friend is one, and only took "a few courses." And that the friend makes $50K after taking a certification exam. You don't have to deal with patients one-to-one, or see icky medical stuff happening. And that the work isn't really hard.

After looking online, I discovered: 1) it's more than a "couple" courses. It's more like 10-12, and most programs cost a minimum of $2K.
2) Certification is very important. 3) Some places offer associate's degrees in same, but since I already have an A.S. and a B.A., I figured I could get s/thing like a continuing ed certificate.

Does anyone know anything about this field/job? Does it really pay that much?

A little about me (in case you arent' familiar with my past posts): I have worked as a secretary, journalist/reporter, PR writer/graphic designer/advertising coordinator, and library assistant. I'm currently underemployed and underpaid and looking around for a good-paying job. I can't really invest in much more training.

I'm not sure I would find coding all that interesting, but at this point, I'm not sure I can "afford interesting" in my career.

It's a bit of a bummer, since it took me 7+ years to get my bachelor's. I would have thought "training" was finished at that point.

Thank you!

[iris lily]

That sounds like a good prospect for you. It requires people who can read well and understand what they are reading and translate that into the techie medical stuff.

This is a reliable website that says employment prospects are very good and salaries are $30,000 to $40,000.

http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/career/143/medical_coder

[poetry_writer]

Those I know who have done it say its very boring and repetitive work. It does pay well here, but they always want "experienced only".

[frugalone]

Thank you very much!
I'll check it out.

[frugalone]

See, this is part of my problem. I have a problem with "boring and repetitive." Which is why I majored in English and wanted to be a writer. However, jobs for writers are far and few between.
:( I have had "vocational issues" all my life.


Those I know who have done it say its very boring and repetitive work. It does pay well here, but they always want "experienced only".

[ApatheticNoMore]

Yes I have heard about it being boring.

As for "experience only" well call me cynical but isn't that every single job on earth? Because it really seems so, at least for any type of even moderately skilled labor ... but if that were really true noone could ever get a job in anything they hadn't done right? So yes, they all claim to want experience only, the real question then becomes: how do we determine whether to take this *seriously* or not?

[frugalone]

Oh dear...upon more reading, it seems terribly tedious. There are *thousands* of different codes!
I think my friend believes I just want to sit at a desk all day and never deal with people. While I am not a people person, and don't like the general public, I don't want to be totally isolated all day long, working with data.


Yes I have heard about it being boring.

[mschrisgo2]

My SIL is a medical coder. She actually makes closer to $60,000. It took her about 2 years to take the courses at a junior college in California and then pass the certification exam. She had not completed any college courses going in, so she had to take some very basic stuff, and she says she wished she had tested out of those classes. She says it is tedious work and requires tons of memorization and being "quite a bit anal." There is absolutely nothing creative about it; in some environments you could work all day for months on end and never interact with another living soul.

She got her "experience" at a nursing home (very low pay), then applied to a major hospital. She doesn't mind the work, it's easy to forget about it when she walks out the door, and she loves the people she works with- they have a very social work group- so it's great for her. She did say something about changes coming in the next 4? 5? years, but she plans to retire before then.

(So, be careful that you're not training for something that will be obsolete in 5 years.)

[frugalone]

mschrisgo2, Thank you for the information.
Especially the input about the upcoming changes. So many things have changed in the past few years due to technology.
My mother told me if I became a secretary, I'd never have trouble finding a job, for example. Well, nowadays, just about everyone coming out of college can type, and there's voice mail, so they don't need as many secretaries as they used to. And all the forms I used to have to do on a typewriter, in triplicate? Well, they're all in MS Word now!
I can understand why something like coding could become obsolete.

Again, thank you!

[treehugger]

My mother told me if I became a secretary, I'd never have trouble finding a job, for example. Well, nowadays, just about everyone coming out of college can type, and there's voice mail, so they don't need as many secretaries as they used to. And all the forms I used to have to do on a typewriter, in triplicate? Well, they're all in MS Word now!

All types of industries and businesses still need administrative assistants though. It's just that very few people have personal secretaries, and the job is so much more than typing and answering phones. But that job is still very much alive. We have 6 people on the administrative team in my office of ~100 people. That's how I started at this company actually, and even though I moved on to project management, I know the admins are still very busy and their assistance is much in demand.

Kara

[frugalone]

treehugger--we do have administrative assistant and secretaries at the college where I work. I'm thinking more, probably, of "personal secretaries." I worked in the legal field for 10 years. You didn't need any kind of degree, and the jobs were plentiful (this was the mid to late 1980s to mid 1990s). Now you hardly ever see any legal secretary jobs advertised. When I left the field, they had word processors instead of PCs, and voice mail was just being introduced. Things are so different now, aren't they?

[try2bfrugal]

treehugger--we do have administrative assistant and secretaries at the college where I work. I'm thinking more, probably, of "personal secretaries." I worked in the legal field for 10 years. You didn't need any kind of degree, and the jobs were plentiful (this was the mid to late 1980s to mid 1990s). Now you hardly ever see any legal secretary jobs advertised. When I left the field, they had word processors instead of PCs, and voice mail was just being introduced. Things are so different now, aren't they?

At my last job, due to expansion of our department, we had to move to some office space in an old un-renovated building. All of the manager offices were along the walls and just outside each one there were open desk type spaces for the secretaries. It was weird moving in there because the desk spaces were all left empty because nobody at the company except maybe senior VPs and up had personal secretaries any more. But at one time it looked like every manager type had a personal secretary. We had one admin assistant for a group of about a hundred people.

[Tradd]

I'm told, by a legal secretary close to retirement, that her job duties have morphed into what paralegals do now.

[pinkytoe]

Do you have a college or university nearby? They are always in need of entry and higher level admin staff. Writing skills would be appreciated too in many departments. Or maybe a larger nonprofit. Sometimes it sounds like it is your location that limits opportunities thus making your employment situation unpleasant.

[frugalone]

I actually work at a university now. I used to work at another one, in their marketing/public relations department. I think I'd like to get back into something involving writing but there are very few openings of that sort. I'm kind of hanging in midair right now. At least I have a job and it's not abysmal or anything. I just need to make more money.

Right now there is an admin assistant job open at work. I doubt that it would pay more than what I make in the library, however.



Do you have a college or university nearby? They are always in need of entry and higher level admin staff. Writing skills would be appreciated too in many departments. Or maybe a larger nonprofit. Sometimes it sounds like it is your location that limits opportunities thus making your employment situation unpleasant.