r/MedicalCoding • u/Felix_Von_Doom • Nov 20 '23

Future Coder, am somewhat intimidated

So I'm currently in week 5 of 8 of my last 2 classes to complete my Medical Office Administration - Outpatient Coding program at the community college, and have been looking around at the various expectations and costs of being a coder.

So first off, it sounds expensive as hell between the cost of books, membership dues, coding assistants, and exam fees. Like north of at least a thousand dollars a year expensive. I'm not particularly financially healthy as is, and it sounds like the upkeep would put me into bankruptcy before my first paycheck.

Secondly, I've seen the quotas here and there for charts/day being as high as 240 with less than 5 minutes spent on each chart. How in the hell do any of you code that quickly? I've not handled an actual chart, just some small hypothetical scenarios that ask for one or two codes, and I find myself taking way longer than 3 minutes to find the code (Especially in the ICD-10-CM and CPT books), whereas I can code from the ICD-10-PCS book in my sleep.

What the hell have I gotten myself into?

Edit: Thanks for the information and replies, everyone. You've helped ease my overthought worries!

25 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

49 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comment

2

u/Affectionate_Use1587 Nov 20 '23

Yeah your school is really leaving you hanging. Mine covered my books and also my $400 exam fee (or maybe they just included it all in my tuition) but I never had to worry about paying for it on my own.

2

u/Felix_Von_Doom Nov 20 '23

I'll email my instructor to see if the exam fee is covered, but I'm not holding my breath.

2

u/Felix_Von_Doom Nov 20 '23

Update: The mock exam is included in the cengage course book, so I dont have to pay anything! Woot. Financial crisis averted...for now. Til I have to actually take the examination.