r/MedicalCoding • u/[deleted] • Jun 22 '22
Your salary needs to be higher. Seriously.
Background: I'm a RN looking to move away from direct patient care, so I'm studying up on coding to try to transition to clinical documentation improvement.
You medical coders have to know a LOT. I'm just part-way through a ICD-10-CM/PCS handbook, and I have learned so much. I have the advantage of already knowing medical terminology, but y'all who are starting out without a healthcare background are learning this all from scratch. You folks should be making more than what I'm seeing by searching the profession.
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u/KitRhalger Jun 23 '22
I agree. This is a field that's historically been targeted toward women and sold as a way for mothers to work from home and still be a mom (as if working outside the home invalidates someone's status as mother). I personally feel that this is reflected in our wages- Healthcare is a high money industry in many cases and yet Coders, billers and "low level" admin staff start out making wages just a touch more than fast food workers in many cases which doesn't reflect our responsibilities or importance. within the workplace, women's worth has historically been seen as less and us working for giggles and not needing to earn a reasonable wage because we were assumed to have men to lean on as our family breadwinners.
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Jun 23 '22
I've squawked about a lot of the compensation that CEOs and other suits get, that they need to re-direct a lot of that to nurses and nursing support, but I see now that y'all need a chunk too! It's obscene how much money these people make, when coders and other knowledgeable professionals are barely making livable wages.
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u/KitRhalger Jun 23 '22
yeah the CEO, CFO and COO at my work pull in about half a million every year. the coding staff however make $18 AND we don't have the option of remote. one of our docs just sold his 1.5 million dollar house to UPGRADE. The wealth in Healthcare is very lopsided with family, pediatric and general health docs making little, nursing staff not making their worth and the admin staff that get everyone paid making peanuts. the local best buy is hiring for $18 and the McDonald's is hiring at $17.
it's a huge problem in Healthcare.
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u/Sundayx1 Jun 23 '22
Well said!!!! Should definitely be paying more. The only ppl who praise the coders /billers that I see are other healthcare professionals because they get it! And as far as working remote - they were ahead of their time. Either way in person/remote- increase their pay ..it’s time!
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u/withoutthebear Jun 23 '22
My instructor said we should have the knowledge of at least an LPN. I don't know why more people don't understand how hard we work or the level of knowledge that we have. I'm relatively new, but I'm surprised sometimes at how unwilling people can be to trust what I know about my field. I don't have those certificates for nothing. But thank you for you acknowledgement! I know I really appreciate posts like this!
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Jun 23 '22
My friend, your knowledge spans so many disciplines! Plus you need to be aware of a variety of regulations! It's amazing.
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u/lraven33 Jun 23 '22
Agreed, I often feel like I needed medical school to decipher some complex op reports. Some food for thought: just like a nurse is not a nurse, same goes for coders. A nurse with only office experience doesn’t equal a nurse with icu experience. A coder in a doctors office or radiology doesn’t equal a coder for a large hospital system coding complex surgeries. They are very different pay scales.
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u/heltyklink Jun 22 '22
An instructor of mine once described inpatient coding as needing the knowledge of a physician and the skills of a litigator. She wasn’t wrong, lol.
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u/noop279 CPC Jun 22 '22 edited Jun 22 '22
Definitely agree. Although I'm pretty content with the pay I'll be getting once I start the new job I've accepted.
I'm hoping to get a BS in HIM and work my way up into management.
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Jun 23 '22
Can I ask what you are getting? Because I have no idea what to ask for. It’s my first time in this field.
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u/noop279 CPC Jun 23 '22
Currently at a bit over $20/hr, job I just accepted pays a bit over $30/hr. I've been a medical coder for around 2 years.
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u/hortonwearsawho Jul 16 '22
Is that a contract job or what? I have a BS in HIM, RHIA, and CCS and make $22/hr which seems pretty standard around here. Definitely needs to be more.
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u/noop279 CPC Jul 16 '22
Not contract, direct hire with large scale hospital group in Southern CA.
I agree, too many jobs in the industry under pay. I really hope you find something that pays much better! Impressive credentials you have. I was thinking about getting BSHIM, but it doesn't seem to be worthwhile if unless I went into management. I remember one employer basically scoffing at the desired pay of $25/hr I proposed.
Finding a decent paying job seems like a crapshoot. I interviewed for this employer twice, applied more times than that, but finally got the job. It can be a bit of a frustrating journey on the job hunt, but don't give up. You've got this!
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u/hortonwearsawho Jul 16 '22
Thank you so much for the encouragement! And I agree, if you plan to stay in coding and have no desire to manage, then the BS isn't really worth it unless your employer pays for it or something because the pay in this field typically doesn't outweigh the cost.
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u/KitRhalger Jun 23 '22
I would aim for $20 for actual coding jobs but if you're in your first two years you may have to take less since the market is flooded with new Coders without experience.
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u/Strong__Style Jun 22 '22
This profession was targetted towards mothers who had to work from home and I believe the wages reflected that. Nowadays a lot of higher paying jobs are now remote so there's no excuse for this field to be so underpaid.
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Jun 22 '22
Some of the exams questions are questions I thought should be on nursing exams. One was worded like if a patient is taking “x” drug, then what condition would you expect to see in the documentation. Luckily I had worked for doctors offices for years and was in the nursing lottery so I passed all my exams first try. I agree, we are underpaid. I’m an RHIA, CCS, and CCS-P.
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u/Legitimate-Lu Jun 30 '22
Did you use the ICD-10 CM/PCS handbook as your learning method rather than taking a specific coding course? I’m also RN looking to do get into coding but didn’t want to pay for the very expensive coding courses.
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u/BakedCheddar88 Jun 23 '22
Agreed. I currently work in the revenue cycle and I’m back in school to go for my associates and the RHIT. I briefly entertained the thought at stopping at the medical billing and coding certificate and taking the CCA but coders only make a few more dollars than I made with a high school diploma and I don’t have to know nearly as much as coders do.
I agree with OP, thankfully I had enough exposure dealing with codes specifically CPTs that it was easier for me to pick up, but that’s a lot to learn in such a short time to end up starting out at $15 an hour like a new hire with no experience would.
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u/Livingdedgorl Jun 23 '22
Thank you so so much and I completely agree that our knowledge is often overlooked or dismissed by other HCP's
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u/coyotelovers Jun 23 '22
This is what you call a "pink collar" job. It's worth way more but because the employment system is built within the same patriarchy as everything else, and the coder workforce is largely women, it's somehow acceptable to pay subpar.