Wiki New coding student enrolled in online college with a possible book shortage

[OhioYankeesFan]

Hello! I was a health care documentation specialist for more than 20 years, now a "refugee", and I just enrolled in Medical Coding school online. I'm excited about this career decision, as Coding is known to be an awesome, respected job -- and pretty lucrative. My online school has a decent reputation overall. They do rely on hardcover books. There are multiple student complaints on the student discussion websites about waiting sometimes lengthy periods of time for the books to arrive via snail mail. I can't let anything unnecessary stand in the way of sitting for the exam, so I phoned the college about the book situation, but they denied this. One always needs a Plan B, so if a book delay turns out to be the case anyway, I would like to ask my new community about the best sources for Medical Coding books. Amazon? EBay? Here? They can be awfully expensive. For instance, the first book we are supposed to receive from the college (which is included in the tuition), according to a college representative on the phone, costs $275 if obtained elsewhere. If I need to shell out significant amounts of money on books because the school has problems supplying them to us - okay - but the amount needs to be kept to a minimum. Any advice is appreciated -- thanks! Also, anyone who is currently coding professionally, or is a student in northeast Ohio, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks again for all your help!

 

[Etb11308069]

book shortage

you might be able to go to a hospital in your area to see if they have any books from the previous year, they might be able to give you one. When you take the exam they usually let you use one from the previous year if a current one is unavailable. This will also let you keep current with your work until your current book arrives.