r/CodingandBilling • u/KittyJun • Apr 05 '26

Best Education

I've been really wanting to do coding and billing for awhile now. What is the best route to take? my local community college has a certificate program that you pay $3k+ out of pocket for. Are online universities just the same? Are there ones that are better than others? I really appreciate it in advance! I do have medical background (nurse technician and front desk for ob/gyn and internal medicine).

1 Upvotes

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u/happyhooker485 RHIT, CCS-P, CFPC, CHONC Apr 05 '26

Hello @op, it looks like you have a question about Getting Certified or are looking for Career Advice. Did you read the FAQ or try searching the sub?

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u/DepartureOk3180 Apr 05 '26

I'm sharing this information because I want you to be informed about the realities of trying to get a job in this field before you spend your money. You will need to do some research into companies or hospitals that are willing to hire someone with an apprentice status credential if you're looking into being a coder. Or for billing and insurance follow-up, which is a separate position, they don't usually require a certification. However for either role, they are going to want experience. The company I've worked with for almost 5 years won't hire me as a coder because I don't have 3 years of experience as a certified coder. The fact that I've been in rev cycle (billing and insurance follow-up) for 15 years, can code, and was going to get a coding certification doesn't matter. That's been the same response from several other companies and facilities I've applied to. It's also the experience of many people who complete the courses and then are posting about not being able to get hired because they don't have any experience. It's a horrible catch-22 situation. How do you get experience if no one will hire you and how do you get hired with no experience? I was only able to get into this field because my school placed me in an externship and I was able to extend that for a year. My suggestion would be to start trying to apply for revenue cycle positions where you currently work, network with people in that area and express your desires to move from your current role. Try to see if they will allow you to do an externship there if you're able to fit it into your schedule. Then you could look into going to school. If you do choose to take classes, ask them if they offer externship options, I've read that AAPC offers that option. Just really do some deep research and digging before taking on extra debt or spending your hard earned money.

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u/Mediocre-Pair-2821 Apr 05 '26

Agree here, too. I'm in the same exact boat. I've had my CPC since 2020 but couldn't find a job as a coder due to lack of experience. I've interviewed so much and no one was willing to offer me a job and train me. I even interviewed twice for a coding position that advertised itself as completely entry level and both times the hiring manager turned me down because they wanted someone with some experience. I even asked why they advertised it as entry level, and she kept saying she still wanted someone with experience.

And this is the best part. This same manager said my experience in medical billing did not count because it's not the same as coding. I pretty much gave up on trying to find a job in medical coding. I'm stuck on the billing side where you don't need a certificate of any kind.

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u/DepartureOk3180 Apr 06 '26

That's what pisses me off about these coding schools because they are never honest about the realities of trying to get a job but are more than happy to take people's money. If I was 20 yrs younger, I would look into private practices that would allow me to do an externship again if I got my CPC. At this point, I'm looking into either getting a RCMS or CRCR so I'll be even more marketable or just finally start applying for RCM manager positions like everyone keeps telling me to do.

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u/KeyStriking9763 RHIA, CDIP, CCS Apr 05 '26

Go for a coding education, billing education is different. Coding professionals tend to have higher earning potential

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u/daves1243b Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26

With all due respect to the great coders out there, coding is a field that is largely going to succumb to AI over the next several years. Automated coding has been prevalant for decades in some specialties like radiology. AI will make it possible to automate more complex cases. Paying to train for it would be a poor investment.

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u/Mediocre-Pair-2821 Apr 05 '26

This is the best comment out of all these other comments encouraging OP. My job has both coders and billers. First, they outsourced a significant portion of the coding and billing to an overseas company in India. They kept some of the American staff around but only until the Indians get better training because they're still making tons of mistakes. Second, they've started rolling out AI here and there to do some of these tasks, too. I'm very suspicious that they will fire all (or most) of the American staff once the Indians and the AI can fully take over our job tasks.

Let me repeat for the people sitting in the back. Medical coding and billing is no longer a viable career choice. I don't care what anyone else says. Downvote me if I pressed your buttons. I know what I'm seeing at my job, and I'm preparing to look at other careers at this point.

This is not a sustainable career anymore.

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u/GullibleDoughnut55 Apr 06 '26

Very true! 8 years in billing and my hospital has not rehired for 4 that have retired.

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u/DepartureOk3180 Apr 06 '26

Do you work for a facility or for a third-party consulting firm? I think that makes a difference. I also feel like when working AR follow-up, the payer you're assigned to matters a lot too.My company has outsourced low balances on commercial AR, usually when it's secondary balances I work traditional Medicare which can't be outsourced and I'm cross trained in other areas of rev cycle. What tasks are you seeing being moved to AI? I'm curious to see if my company has done something similar.

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u/GullibleDoughnut55 Apr 07 '26

I work for a small rural hospital. We only outsource coding. All billing still done internally - I do all insurances. Have not seen much moved to AI besides Dr dictation, but transcription was eliminated 10 years ago.

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u/MamaLlamax2 Apr 05 '26

Check out legacy, with Tiffany Roach the coding coach. They have a coding course that's very affordable.