Whenever you choose a career path and a school to study at, it’s essential that you choose a future where there will be plenty of opportunities for you. After all, what good is it to commit to a profession and an industry if there won’t be any jobs available for you when you finish your training?
Medical billing and coding is a specialized area of medical administration, and it’s growing in popularity as a qualification for high school graduates and professionals that want to change career paths. If you’ve been thinking about medical coding and billing as a potential career path, then it will be helpful to learn a little more about it, along with the opportunities that currently exist in the job market.
The Job You Will Perform with a Medical Coding Certification
Medical coding and billing specialists are administrative staff that takes patient records and convert them into a standardized code for record-keeping and billing purposes.
Imagine a patient that visits their local clinic to be treated for an infected wound. From the moment that they sign into the clinic, to their consultation with a physician, visit a pharmacy, and then discharge, there will be potentially hundreds of lines of information recorded about the patient. This information will include their initial health complaint, the tests, and diagnosis noted by a doctor, any medicine that was prescribed, and any supplies that were used throughout the process.
This information can become hard to interpret as it becomes more complicated, which is where medical coding comes into play. Instead of having all of the handwritten doctor, nurse, receptionist, and pharmacist notes, the patient’s details will be encoded and then recorded into a computer system. This can then be easily referenced for any future visits, and the notes can also be supplied to other medical centers or even an insurance provider.
To put it simply, when you learn medical procedure codes, you’ll learn the best and most efficient way to keep medical records. These records aren’t just used by medical centers, hospitals, and insurance providers, but are also used by the CDC and other government agencies to track health statistics, and they can even be used to identify epidemics.
How Long Will It Take to Get Qualified?
If you want to become a medical billing and coding specialist, you’ll need to take a nationally recognized certificate course at a training college. In Baton Rouge Louisiana, you can learn medical billing and coding and receive an industry-recognized certification.
The program includes one full year of intensive study; after which you will be eligible to apply for medical coding jobs in the United States.
Is there Healthy Demand in the Job Market?
A medical coding certification is a good idea in today’s job market. According to BLS.gov, there is expected to be a 15% growth in the market over the next seven years, so job prospects are very good for new graduates. Not only is demand high, but compensation is also relatively high for an entry-level role. The median pay in 2016 was $38,040 per year, making medical coding more attractive than jobs that require extensive study and associate’s or bachelor’s degrees.
Get Started at the ITI Technical College
If you’re ready to learn medical billing and coding, then it’s time to enroll at a leading school in Baton Rouge. At ITI Technical College, you’ll be able to take our one-year certificate program that prepares you for work in the industry. You’ll learn in a fast-paced and supportive environment, which is designed to replicate the environment in busy hospitals and clinics. You’ll learn industry-standard coding practices, using the same or similar software to what you will use once you enter the workforce.
If you want to start learning and begin a positive career path, then give us a call today to talk about our upcoming enrolment schedule.
For more information about graduation rates, the median debt of students who completed the program, and other important information, please visit our website: https://iticollege.edu/disclosures/
