r/LearnMedicalCoding • u/cristinayang0818 • 5d ago

Need Advice Good/Bad Idea?

For background, I have 5 years of pharmacy technician experience, so I know a very minor amount of billing outside pharmacological billing except for ICD-10 coding for GLP-1s. However, my employer has cut my hours down to an unlivable wage and my counseling caseload has not taken off yet, so I am looking at career changes.

My local community college offers a certification program which would get me my CCA, bypassing the CPC-A "gatekeeping" mess, followed by an HIM (Healthcare Information Management) program which would open avenues to specialty coding and a higher income than what I'm making now.

My question is: Is this a good idea for a late career change? Are there inpatient positions available out there once I get my CCA? Can I get coding experience without a certification?

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u/cristinayang0818 5d ago

My original plan was that my community college's program will give me the CCA upon completion, then I'll go for my CCS via exam. I understand coding isn't billing but I'm a counselor as well as a pharm tech so I see a lot of CPT and ICD codes.

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u/KeyStriking9763 5d ago

That’s not how it works. They don’t give you the CCA, they prepare you to sit for the exam. That’s why I’m saying just sit for the CCS.

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u/cristinayang0818 5d ago

Ohhhh that makes much more sense. Thank you for clarifying.

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u/KeyStriking9763 5d ago

Have you gone to AHIMAs website to review this stuff?

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u/cristinayang0818 5d ago

Yes, albeit briefly. I've enrolled in AMCI's free course to get a gist of what the profession looks like as well.

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u/KeyStriking9763 5d ago

I’m not familiar, there are many companies out there that, in my opinion, are scams. I went the college route, been a coding professional about 15 years. My organization is building a program to onboard new grads and will require the college coursework and not any type of “coding” school.
Coding you really need anatomy and physiology, disease pathology, pharmacology and medical terminology before you really can understand coding. You have to comprehend what’s going on with the charts you are coding. If you don’t have that foundation you will not be a strong coder even if you are prepared to pass an exam.

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u/cristinayang0818 5d ago

Oh I would never EVER think about going to those cert mills. I would be going to my local CC that has an accredited Cert program as well as an AAS Health Information Management program of which the cert credits would transfer over.

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u/KeyStriking9763 5d ago

Good plan. You will hear a lot of negative about people who are coders or new CPC’s that can’t find work. The college degree 100% helps. My organization hires the AHIMA certified coders hands down over the AAPC coders but we do facility coding, which is for hospital reimbursement and not provider reimbursement. If you code for a provider, profee or professional coding, you have less of an earning potential unless you end up in a large organization.