Good for you! I've known people in that business. A personnel trainer that started her own medical coding business, then later retired from it. She still does it from time to time filling in for people on vacation....say...in a vacation resort situation. She complained too much about how the business had changed...but she was in-demand and made good money at it. Another woman worked from home. If she had a sick child, she didn't have to take off from work. It was a win-win for her family!

The only advice I'd give you.....have enough money to live on if your new career doesn't take off right away.

Check with your local ambulance company, hospital, or doctors office to see if there is actually a demand. I have a friend who was the head of the local EMT billing area and the demand runs in cycles. The burnout rate is fairly high. You also need to check places for the training as some in this area only offer it at certain times of the year. You can not take the second course in the Spring if you did not take the fall or winter course. Good luck to you as you will need to know a fair amount of medical terminology.

I just now did some research into medical coders. Google AAPC. That's the national organization for medical coders. It describes the training required, certifications, job opportunities, etc.

The information i found indicates that the medical coding field is expected to grow by 22% by 2026.

I know a person who worked her whole career in medical coding. Mostly enjoyed it. She was able to work from home for the last part of her career, which might or might not appeal to people. As a side benefit, she still knows which doctors in town are the best.

I just retired from outpt medical coding. I am certified through AAPC My Internet is on the fritz right now and I dislike typing on my phone. When I get my Internet up I will elaborate.

Two25acres, sorry it took so long to get back to you. My gang came over today. Thank goodness my son got my internet up and running again.

So you are thinking about being a coder. It's not a short or easy process to become a medical coder.

First of all medical coding is a profession and not a clerical position. Usually type A personalty, detail oriented, problem solver, and self disciplined. It is defiantly not boring, brain frying yes, but not boring. It is constantly changing and you are in constant education mode. There is and always was a shortage of coders that I know of, but a lot of want to be coders. Coding is very hard to get a job in. It's a catch 22. Coders are in demand, but employers only want experienced credentialed coders with at least 3 years or more of experience in a specialty. There is two kind of medical coders, inpt and outpt. Both use the same reference material and principles ,but the coding itself is a whole different ball game. Outpt is more in demand.

First ignore all those ads that says "become a coder in 6 or what ever months". What a joke. 99% of coders I worked with had a coding certificate or degree from a college or university. At my college students in the RN and the coding program took most of the same basic courses and then they split. The RNs started their student nursing rotations and the coders only then started the actual coding courses.

There is two reputable credentialing associations. AAPC and AHIMA. Both credential inpt and outpt coders, but AAPC is geared more to outpt and AHIMA is geared more to inpt coders. I don't know how AHIMA works, I am credentialed with AAPC. You have to intern for 2 years before you can take the test to become certified. It was a 5 hour on site timed intense test when I took it. The problem is most people out of school can't find a job coding to get your 2 years of internship. So if your very very lucky to get a coding job out of school your looking at least 2 years before you can be certified and start making any kind of real money. When I was invited to speak at mixers of current, and past students of my college, the most asked question was how do I get coding job. I would tell them to get their foot in a door doing any kind of job in the medical field - medical record, billing, office receptionist, etc and work your way up from there. And if you are offered any kind of coding job even if you hate coding that specialty, grab on to it for the experience.

I hope I helped some and if you have any more questions feel free to ask.

Thank you for all of the information, functionthenlook I was aware of the criteria required for AAPC and was actually leaning towards AHIMA but with time and experience I am confident I would want to pursue other challenges within the field. I'm more of an introvert, detail oriented, self starter and don't need to be babysat. I've had a great deal of independence in my current job but it bores me. I love the idea of doing research, I did start in the nursing program years ago but did not finish. A decision I regret today. Thank you again.

I am glad you are perusing your dream. Sounds like coding would be a good fit for you. There is just so many people with false impressions that it is a fast and easy profession to enter. There is so many challenging jobs under the umbrella of coding. It would be nice if your previous credits can be applied. Good luck.

Nothing worth doing/having is ever that easy. If I want to be successful at this, I know it's going to take time to get there. I just see this as my last "career" before retiring. I do believe it will offer me flexibility in the years to come which really is what I am looking for. Thank you again for your input.

Of course no one fits neatly into any box but my experience is that those with Type A personalities tend to be not happy and get impatient with externally imposed constraints. They like to set their own rules and organize themselves for competitive accomplishments. Whether that's a good fit for what's needed for this job, I don't know, but Type As I've known are usually quite outgoing and wouldn't thrive in what I imagine is a pretty solitary job.

The income figures I found through a search suggests the pay levels for medical coding are at a clerical level. Whether that's true in all areas, I don't know. According to a recent BLS stat, mean annual income in this job is below 50K. For someone looking for a new job, I'm not suggesting it's a problem, but it's lower than what others consider to be the pay rates of "professions" as that term is known in a healthcare or white collar job sense.

Make sure there are plenty of jobs in your area because I know someone who went through a program and found out there weren't any available. But that was a small town.

Yes, there's much to consider but staying in the line of work I've been in for 20 plus years isn't an option. I do well on my own and I do well working with others. I do know I work better with men than women but that's because I grew up with 5 brothers, no sisters and lost my long term best girlfriends to diseases. I'm not concerned about the age thing. I will need to find something in the interim either way. Our goal however is in 3 -5 years to sell the house and travel. I need something that I can do virtually and this is one of those things that I can do on the road once I have secured a position. In my area there are opportunities, I have checked that. The salary, really my business and I won't say anything else about that. I'm generally not someone that is impulsive. This job will come to an end, I don't know when as the agent will need to find a buyer, the buyer will have to be approved and funds arranged. It could happen quickly or it could take a while. Yes, I could buy the business but I'm not interested. I want to make my life easier and starting a business and making it successful would require more hours than I care to put into it. My husband is a motorcoach bus driver, can be gone days on end and as a result I have taken on more work at home. We are taking steps to ease some of the workload for me and my husband as I don't want him having to work hard in between trips. I would prefer he get to relax. When your on the road for days on end, you see a lot of unpleasant things and it takes a while just to wind down. I know this, I drove a limo for several years. I am hoping to start my classes in the next couple of weeks and will certify when ready. In the mean time I am looking for something I can do from home and something in the medical field. I am will to work out of the home in order to get where I want to be.

sounds like you've thought things through! Best of luck and let us know how it goes.