A future in Medical Transcription seems unlikely. How about Medical Codng?

In this thread, I asked about medical transcription as a career and got a consensus of response that, between speech recognition and overseas outsourcing, it doesn’t seem to have much of a future for a U.S. citizen.

So how about medical coding? It’s more technically demanding with more overview required and requires certification…and yet it’s still within my capabilities and aptitude. Is this likely to go down the same road as transcription or does it have a brighter future?

And, if so, could anyone recommend a good online school? CareerStep has a good reputation generally and the Medical Coding course is less expensive than others on the net…but? Does anyone have any experience with it?

Thanks for any insight you might be able to give!

My mother is a medical records coder and I’m in school to become one.

The new coding guidelines (ICD-10) have just started being used, so now is the time to get going.

Most every doctors office, hospital and other medical facility needs a coder at least part time, so there are plenty of jobs.

http://www.ahima.org/ and your state’s health information management association will have lots of information for you.

I’d suggest proofreading your typing first. :slight_smile:

And, since this is more along the lines of asking for informed opinions, let’s move this to IMHO.
samclem GQ moderator