Should I quit my job as a bank teller to become a medical billing and coding specialist?
Asked by Ct's Finest
I am 30 yrs old with two beautiful boys. I've been working for 8 months as a bank teller. I've been really thinking about taking a course in medical billing and coding. I've been doing my research and from what I've been reading it's a promising career. Im not really all that happy with my current career choice financially. Does anybody have any advice on my career decision? HELP

Best Answer:
The pay for billers and coders vary greatly depending where you and what certifications you have. Working for a hospital requires the CPC credential and the money is good and benefits excellent. Working for a doctors office or clinic w/o certification pays about $12-$15 an hour starting out. With certification, working in a doctors office would be around $15-$18 an hour. Hospital coders make about $20 an hour starting w/ benefits. Working at home- some coders work at home for doctors offices and some billers do the same. If you get into electronic claims submission, it can be lucrative but difficult to find the clients at first. Bank tellers do not make good money, in my opinion. I feel the career change would be beneficial to you. I recommend reading AHIMAs website. Also check out www.med-certification.com. You can get quality training online, but BEWARE of companies that are really software vendors pretending to be schools to rope you into buying their software. Good online training should not cost more than $2,000. Another thing, if you plan to do billing at home, there will be a hefty software expense for you. For example, the going price for Medisoft Patient Accounting Software is about $1,000. So, there will be start up costs. Your best best, in my opinion, is to get some good online training. Get your CCA credential from AHIMA and start out in a doctor's office doing coding and billing. Then, study and get your CCS P credential and then continue moving up from there. Eventually, I'd shoot for a hospital coding job. It is a good career choice, stable and solid, and growing.

I believe they're about equal in salary and security. There are some companies that contract to medical institutions to do coding and billing and you can do it from home. If you have two boys you might do some reasearch on that if you're really interested in the field.
Answered by misslabeled

1) It can be good as long as the course doesn't waste your money and give you bogus "training" for jobs that don't exist. 2) When the economy turns bad, people look to change jobs and careers. Now is a bad time to do that because you have no relevant experience in the new field. 3) Keep what you have until things get better. It's easier to get hired in that type of environment when companies are growing and managers feel more confident about hiring rookies.
Answered by 60187guy

Since you are not happy with your current job, then yes take the Medical Billing and Coding training. Medical Billers make a higher salary then bank tellers. And since you have two children. And if they are young children, you can even work from home. Many medical billers do.
Answered by EE,JAEE

You would be wise to talk with some people actually doing this job and getting their take on the pluses and minuses of such a career. At the same time get their recommendations for training in this field. Whatever you do should be worked around your current bank job which means you work normal bank hours and then take courses in a local community college at night or on-line depending on how it is offered. This is no time to quit a decent job.
Answered by Othniel

dont quit your job - wait until you graduate the program (if you do) and find a job (if you do) before quitting. Medical billing and coding is a wierd career. I know people who graduated the program a year ago and still haven't found work. Everyone tries to do this because they see it as a cheap, quick way to receive training and get a job. Its like the easy way out. Thats why its hard to get in - because theres thousands of other people who are also trying to get into the same career. Sorry to be so honest but I don't like to beat around the bush. Good luck and Happy New Year :)
Answered by whoknewthecolorcouldbeblue

There's lots of good information and training available at ahima.org. I considered it for a while but decided to go for nursing instead.
Answered by S W