Got Medical Billing School - Then Your Making A Bad Investment
This article is about a potential employer’s view on medical billing schools. My experience has been that they simply are not worth the time and money for the students. I have interviewed many medical billing candidates from many medical billing schools and I do not find that the education makes the individual a more attractive candidate than other inexperienced candidates.
Typically graduates we hire from medical billing school start in our apprenticeship program alongside individuals that have not graduated from medical billing school (i.e., they start in the exact same role as folks that have not made the investment in money or time for medical billing school).
Although medical billing schools teach some terminology and medical billing concepts, they do not provide any of the experience necessary for an individual to start as a medical biller. In fact, more often than not we find that they have taught incorrect concepts and the “eduction” has to be unlearned before the individual can actually move on from being an apprentice. Many times the medical billing school graduates also have an inflated sense of confidence because of their training and are harder to teach and mentor in terms of proper medical billing because they are under the impression that they have already learned all they need to know.
Most individuals would be much better off saving their money and finding a medical billing company or medical practice that will let them join and start with basic medical billing work such as calling on claims to verify status or verifying patient insurance information before the visit.
Both of these activities give individuals a solid base for launching a medical billing career. They provide the individual with both a grounds up understanding of the building blocks of medical billing and a real medical billing job on their resume.
Most organizations do not have a formal apprenticeship program, but if you interview with the specific tasks outlined above in mind then you can find an entry level opportunity. This opportunity will pay you to learn about medical billing and build your resume.
The certified coder that does not already have medical billing experience is typically hard pressed to find a coding position. Once, however, your have medical billing experience you can get real value from a certified coder certificate.
So, if you want to break into the field of medical billing please consider pursuing an apprenticeship model it will serve you (and your future employer) much better than a medical billing school education.
Copyright 2008 by Carl Mays II
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