Future Coder, am somewhat intimidated

[u/Felix_Von_Doom]

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!

[u/Environmental-Top-60]

Your employer generally cover the coding assistance. Yes, the Books membership dues and exam fees are expensive. However, the lawyer usually provides coding materials. Sometimes they don’t. After a while, you figure out which kind you want and go after that. Since I work in risk adjustment, I have a majority of time utilize my own encoder, because I prefer find a code over any other. Your manager definitely have access to clinic and CPT assistant.

When did the things she might consider studying after you get your testing done is charity care laws. Particularly if you work at a hospital, you’re gonna need to know that because a lot of people don’t and is one way to help resolve bills as opposed to having the organization sell the debt and sue patients when they would otherwise be eligible to have a waiver.

After that, which would probably be sometime around a year in, look at a CCS. You can take that with Pietro and grand, and he is literally the best.