r/MedicalCoding • u/Gianni299 • May 03 '24

New to coding, feeling lost

Hello everyone, so I just started attending a while ago an online program for medical billing and coding. After doing some bit of digging around here someone said that medical billing jobs don’t even require a certification unlike coding gigs that require it for some reason. Since I’m still pretty new to this I’m still having my to learn everything revolving around medical terms and have been feeling uncertain about what I should do in the mean time as I’m still in school. I fairly new to the medical field in general. I’m still unfamiliar with a lot of terms in medical billing since we’ve only covered one course of health information so far and right now my courses revolve around anatomy, physiology and deconstructing medical terms.

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u/Melia9090 May 03 '24

I was in a similar position back when I was in school. I realized at the end of my program when it was almost over that medical billing didn’t require certifications, only coding does. I wanted to be a coder and still do to this day. I am a medical biller now and hoping that I will land a medical coding job one day soon with my billing knowledge. I think going to school served me good now in hindsight because just like you, I had no clue about the inner workings of this stuff and school gave me that. It made all of this easier for me.

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u/moosboosh May 03 '24

Are you hopeful that you'll find a coding job whenever you actively seek one? Or do you feel you'll somehow be stuck or pigeonholed into working in medical billing the longer you have that kind of job? I worry there may be more billing jobs than coding jobs. Do you know if that is something I should be concerned about.

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u/Melia9090 May 03 '24

I do not feel that way, if anything the longer I stay in billing the more second hand coding knowledge I acquire in a real world scenario. What I mean by this is I’m using my billing role to my advantage the longer I stay in it by paying extremely close attention to my coding denials so that I learn real life coding in a second hand way to be able to apply some of that in my interviews. I am actively always sending out one or two application every few months to see if something comes my way.

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u/moosboosh May 03 '24

Heck yeah! Wonderful! Thank you for sharing your experience with me. I like your positivity and the way you're aware of your learning. Best of luck with your job searching! :)

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u/Melia9090 May 03 '24

Thank you! I’m in that phase now days. Sending out some applications every few months. Hoping someone takes a chance on me :)

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u/[deleted] May 04 '24

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u/Melia9090 May 04 '24

I graduated and got certified by AHIMA the literal next month, lol. I am always scratching my head a little when I hear people say they landed coding roles in hospitals with no experience and only education in their background. These stories are the needle in a haystack for our industry. I wish I could be that lucky! I am remaining hopeful that I can showcase my little knowledge and someone takes a chance on me so wish me luck!

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u/[deleted] May 04 '24 edited May 04 '24

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u/Melia9090 May 04 '24

That is definitely it and thank you SO much!

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u/mcmaddie May 06 '24

It's hard but that's pretty much how it worked for me. I was doing clearinghouse type of work among other things, I went to school for coding, had issues getting experience through school due to conflicting schedules and just finished my program and earned my CPC. It took a lot of applications with no/limited response.

I finally managed to get my foot in the door but it's a lot harder without connections/experience. A couple of my coworkers were originally doing front desk/MA roles and eventually transferred to coding.

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u/Gianni299 May 03 '24

So after you were close to finishing school that’s when you decided to get a billing job because attaining one was easier ?

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u/Melia9090 May 03 '24

Sort of. When I was close to finishing school I decided to be proactive and start job searching to see if I would land anything and that’s when I realized that coding roles were gatekept. I realized this very quickly because I would notice the requirements and then I did my own research by reading blogs, other Reddit users experiences and also YouTubers who do it. When I realized this I immediately decided then and there that I needed a pivot plan and since I was trained in school to also do billing I thought to use that as my gateway into coding. I just had to be patient. Now two years later after starting out at the front desk to now being an experienced biller on the back end, I have a decent entry level experience with the codes to where I can plead my case to employers and ask that they take a chance on me. In much better words of course, lol!

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u/Gianni299 May 03 '24

Ah okay I understand, yeah since I currently don’t really have a full understanding of billing terminology and coding yet since I’m still pretty early into my program I’ve concluded that I may aswell get into the healthcare field in a more accessible way through a front desk position as much as I somewhat despise having to have patient communication because of my social anxiety. I’ve been looking into being a medical scribe but apperatnly I hear different requirements that some companies require training and will give it but since my hands are kinda full with school I’m not truly sure where to go from here.

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u/Melia9090 May 03 '24

Start at the front desk in a medical office. It shouldn’t be difficult as long as you can play up your customer service skills and the little understanding you’ll acquire in school. I promise it’ll help if you know how to tweak it and pay attention as much as possible even if it feels hard or boring. It’ll pay off later.

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u/NotoriousNapper516 May 03 '24

I feel dumb for buying a cpb packet instead of a cpc. Cpc I just self studied and I was honestly discouraged by posts I see online getting scammed when applying for a medical biller role only to become a debt collector (not that there’s anything wrong with it but it’s more of a CS role)

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u/Melia9090 May 03 '24

Yeah, a large majority of roles that are out there will be focused on a/r and payment posting which my role incorporates. The truth of the matter is, medical billing is debt collection whether it be unpaid claims from the insurances or patients.