Believe it or not, one of my most successful coders attended a coding/billing career school, and started out at this facility in the dietary department...delivering meals to patients. Because she had her 'foot in the door', so to speak, she was privy to internal job postings that never make it to the public. She started her coding career as a data entry person, and worked her way up to specialty coder. She now codes Emergency room visits on the facility side, and earns $35000+, makes her own hours, and enjoys the full benefits that our facility offers. All because she wasn't too uppity to take a position in the kitchen, and she kept her focus.
Don't discount any job in the healthcare world, no matter now unrelated to coding it might appear. Sometimes being on the inside, even if you're not coding right away, is a step in the right direction.
Good luck with your job search.
When I went into this last year I really thought alright this will be great Ill get an education and it should be easy to find work.WRONG...I love that AAPC has an xternship program HOWEVER only one freakin place in my state has any knowledge of it and its NO where close to where I reside.I love the school I attended and my teachers were very knowledgable and well known in the business however the school didnt offer any employment help post graduation and I knew that going in and wouldnt change my education for anything. It seems really the only way into this line of works is by connection..knowing someone on the inside and if ya dont well your out of luck! We need AAPC either to hire ppl to make business known of the Xternship program or we need the seasonded vetrans to pass this info onto their employers and start giving some of us new to this line of work a chance. I passed my CPC in april and yet to find anything..Sorry just had to vent and if your reading this thinking of this line of work research very well so you dont get frustrated, depressed and disappointed as I am at this point!
