# Career advice needed!



## NMColeman3 (Mar 28, 2017)

My wife is itching to do something different.  She has a PhD in Immunology and Microbiology.  She is also a licensed Cytotechnologist (specializes in diagnosing cancer at the cellular level) and doesnt care to work in the lab or teach any longer.  She is considering pursuing a CPC with thoughts that she would be a good candidate for working with payers in the Medical Policy department.  While I do believe that may be a good option ... I would love to know what many of you in the community think her career/job options would be.  I've often seen attorneys and other folks with CPC and I understand why they have the designation but again, what about folks like my wife? 

What do you believe her prospects would be?

I appreciate any and all comments.

Thanks


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## Riehen (Apr 12, 2017)

*advice response*

i think your wife is brilliant. I've worked as a coder for 5 years now and my experience means nothing since employers are looking for specialize coding experience such as ambulatory services, surgical and you name it. It's very frustrating since one does not come out of a coding program being trained in specific areas. To add injury to insult there are books to help get your feet wet in almost every specialty. My suggestion would be unless your wife has a job lined up she'll be hard pressed to find someone willing to hire her without coding experience. Good luck.


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## daedolos (Apr 12, 2017)

Personally, I would think she is overqualified for a coding position. That said, if she gets a CPC, she'd be a useful person to keep around in an oncological setting.

Peace
@_*
With that pedigree, she may do well in an administrative position if she really dislikes lab or educational settings.  Just saying.


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## NMColeman3 (Apr 13, 2017)

*Thanks*



Riehen said:


> i think your wife is brilliant. I've worked as a coder for 5 years now and my experience means nothing since employers are looking for specialize coding experience such as ambulatory services, surgical and you name it. It's very frustrating since one does not come out of a coding program being trained in specific areas. To add injury to insult there are books to help get your feet wet in almost every specialty. My suggestion would be unless your wife has a job lined up she'll be hard pressed to find someone willing to hire her without coding experience. Good luck.



Thank you for commenting.  I/we value every perspective.


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## NMColeman3 (Apr 13, 2017)

*Thanks*



daedolos said:


> Personally, I would think she is overqualified for a coding position. That said, if she gets a CPC, she'd be a useful person to keep around in an oncological setting.
> 
> Peace
> @_*
> With that pedigree, she may do well in an administrative position if she really dislikes lab or educational settings.  Just saying.





Thank you for your thoughts.  I do appreciate you taking the time to share your opinion!  I'm doing my best to help her determine a new direction.


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## SAllard607 (Apr 26, 2017)

I have been in the medical field for over 10 years and almost 7 years a certified coder, I am currently in management in a medical coding staffing company. My advice would be to expect to start at the bottom and work your way up after obtaining a CPC. The medical background that she has will definitely help get a coding position in a local hospital after obtaining a CPC, but you can expect to start entry level. Often times the remote field requires a minimum of 2-3 years of hands on coding experience to gain employment. Medical coding has a lot of guidelines within the coding books then additionally with all of the separate payers. 

Another avenue you may want to look into is the RHIT degree and certification. The CPC is for coding on the physician side of the field, the RHIT is typically for coders on the facility side.  Her clinical experience would be a big plus for the facility side of the coding field. If interested in the RHIT you have to first obtain an associates degree in Health Information Technology and once you have that degree you are allowed to sit for the RHIT exam.  

Good luck with whatever decision you make!!


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## AprilSueMadison (Apr 26, 2017)

NMColeman3 said:


> My wife is itching to do something different.  She has a PhD in Immunology and Microbiology.  She is also a licensed Cytotechnologist (specializes in diagnosing cancer at the cellular level) and doesnt care to work in the lab or teach any longer.  She is considering pursuing a CPC with thoughts that she would be a good candidate for working with payers in the Medical Policy department.  While I do believe that may be a good option ... I would love to know what many of you in the community think her career/job options would be.  I've often seen attorneys and other folks with CPC and I understand why they have the designation but again, what about folks like my wife?
> 
> What do you believe her prospects would be?
> 
> ...



Has she looked into working with the state in regards to the cancer registries?  She may not need to go as far as giving up her background, but might be able to use it as a registrar or assisting the state registries in ensuring they are collecting the correct information.  If she has EHR experience, her background may even be valuable there as it can be difficult to pull the needed registry information out of some EHR programs.


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