RN vs Medical Billing and Coding

Nurses General Nursing

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Does anyone have any experience in Medical Billing and coding? What job opportunities are avilable and also how is the pay compared to RN?

Pay depends on region and specialty. Salary information can be found at the following websites. This can give anyone interested in coding more information regarding salary and certification.

http://www.ahima.org/salarystudy/

http://www.aapc.com/surveys/medical-...-survey07.aspx

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Specializes in clinical, audits.

I am current a CPC medical coder and studying for my CCS before I go into nursing school next september. I make $30.00 in the San Fernando Valley which is a Los Angeles Suburb. Inpatient coders in my areas make minimum $30.00 an hour. Billing is totally different and pays ALOT less.

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How did you come a coder? I'm just got my BSN and don't think I want to do bedside nursing.

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I passed CCS and CCS-P exams, and then volunteered at a medical records department (with the CCS and CCS-P credentials) for a year. Volunteering in medical records later assisted me to attain a job in medical coding years ago. This may not work for everyone as you are volunteering your time and skills for free. This has worked for some coding students to get jobs as medical coders.

If you want to be credentialed as a coder, I have found that the CCS is sufficient to get noticed by employers. This is only from my experience. What works for me may not work for everyone else.

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Did you take any classes to help you pass the exam?

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Did you take any classes to help you pass the exam?

I took no classes to pass the CCS and CCS-P exam. Many many years ago, I purchased books similar to AHIMA's Basic ICD-9-CM Coding (ISBN: 9781584262459), Basic ICD-9-CM Coding Exercises (ISBN: 9781584262183), Basic Current Procedural Terminology and HCPCS Coding (ISBN: 9781584262473), Basic CPT/HCPCS Coding Exercises (ISBN: 9781584262046), and the Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) Review Guide (ISBN: 9781584262367).

I have heard that the Professional Review Guide for the CCS Exam by Patricia Schnering (ISBN: 1111127964) will help prepare for the exam also.

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Is there any one coding certification you can get for both physician office/hospital? - like if you wanted to work in insurance/hospital auditing and also, on the side for physician practices.

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Before I began nursing school I worked in Medical Billing and Coding for a large practice. It was not bad work but I decided to change careers for the following reasons:

1. Little room for career growth

2. Topped out at salary making $35,000/year.

3. Monotonous work

4. Dealing with insurance companies all day long can drive you mad .

5. Dealing with patients who assume that I should know the intricate details of their insurance policies can drive you mad.

6 Sedentary work

7. Insurance companies rejecting claims just because......

Like I said, it was not bad work. I enjoyed working consistent hours during the week (which I will probablly never do again). Also the practice I worked for provided wonderful benefits and I felt valued.

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Is there any one coding certification you can get for both physician office/hospital? - like if you wanted to work in insurance/hospital auditing and also, on the side for physician practices.

You'd have to look at the AHIMA certification website. All I see are the CCS and CCS-P for professional coding. There are the RHIT and RHIA, however, you'd have to go through a CAHIIM-accredited program to attain the RHIT or RHIA.

http://ahima.org/certification/credentials.aspx

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Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.

I do medical reviews and case management for several large national insurance companies.

Our company has several coders. They do not have to be certified. They make about $15 per hour. This is in South Florida. I sincerely doubt that anywhere in the country they make more than $25 to $30 at the most and that would have to be in a large affluent city aka San Francisco...no way do they make $60,000 per year. THat commercial is just plain fraudulent.

It's not hard to do, I frequently grab the ICD-9 or CPT books to get something for a case, once you know your way around the books you can do it fairly easily.

I don't think I would want to do it full time though...even if I could make the same as RN money....I'd be seeing those numbers all night long!

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