Top Resources for Future Medical Coding and Billing Professionals

Understanding Accreditation

How do you learn whether a desired medical coding and billing degree program is accredited? Ask the admissions office about program accreditation. If they have it, it means that the program itself has received special recognition due to its high value academics and faculty. Programs are required to meet high standards in order to earn any form of accepted accreditation. An accredited medical coding and billing program will also be more likely to continue making improvements consistent with industry changes.

Why is this useful? Because your future employers will check to see is your degree program held accreditation. If you graduated from an institution without accreditation, prospective employers may refuse to hire you, or lowball you on salary.

What you should be looking for in accreditation is either regional or programmatic. Regional agencies are approved by the DoE to offer entire schools accreditation who meet a strict standard.

These agencies include:

Programmatic accreditation for medical billing and coding is most often provided by the Commission of Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM) and the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC).

Questions About Financial Aid

College is expensive enough to cause families and students to reconsider a post-secondary education. However, most students move past this obstacle by making use of financial aid. As you consider how you will pay for college, remember, you can use grants, scholarships, work study, student loans, or all of the above.

Both scholarships and grants are sometimes referred to as free money because it’s money that students don’t have to repay after graduation. A typical family finds that about 31% of the bill for their college-age student is covered by a pell grant and scholarships. It isn’t easy to go through the effort of applying for each scholarship or grant, but if you’re willing to take the necessary time and make the effort, you’ll find that the final bill your family pays can be significantly lowered.

Financial aid is used to cover tuition, fees, books, supplies, transportation, and room and board. Along with grants and scholarships, you can also apply for work-study, if you can prove you have need, which means you will work a set number of hours on campus each week, for pay. The work-study program offers part-time work (usually, but not always) on campus. The money you earn can help you pay for expenses related to your schooling, put directly toward your loans, or pulled out for secondary costs. You’ll earn the federal minimum wage no matter where you end up working.

You can also access federal financial aid (or state aid) by filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). You’ll need to fill out a new application for each academic year you’re in school. Your eligibility is determined from your family’s expected family contribution (EFC). If your family’s EFC is $0, you will receive the maximum amount of the Pell Grant along with access to other scholarship and grant opportunities that require the FAFSA to prove financial need.

Federal and private student loans are also an option, but you should consider these last, because you do have to repay them, with interest.

Associations for Students

Whether your professors want to you to join associations for medical coding and billing or not, you should consider it as an option. As busy as you are with your classes, you may wonder how one more activity could make a difference. Partially, it’s because it allows you to learn about your future profession outside classroom walls. Also, it will provide you insight that your classmates might not have, prepare you for changes you will face once you are out of school, and give you a view of the profession you’ll be entering once you graduate. While associations are usually considered the purview of professionals only, many offer discounts for students and provide access to educational opportunities you won’t find in your usual classroom.

Student or Open Access Journals

As a medical coder and biller, you’ll find yourself reading these journals when you want to learn about a new development, process, or billing/coding software. If you’re willing to put more effort into keeping up to date while you’re in school, it will make it even easier to land a job when you graduate. You’ll be prepared for any changes in coding and have a broad outlook on issues within the field.

Popular Apps

College students majoring in medical coding and billing benefit from apps that help them to manage their time or keep from being distracted while they complete their schoolwork. Apple actually has several apps that help students specifically learning medical coding and billing. The apps can be used on iPads, iPhone, or iPod Touch. iTunes carries specifications for each app.

Medical Billing and Coding Certification Options

Whether you are a student or a professional code and biller, earning a certificate in a coding and billing course gives you the opportunity to show that you have the knowledge and skills to take on more responsibility, including a supervisory position. By earning a certification, you show that you have met a high standard for both ethical and professionalism. The healthcare industry is growing rapidly - hospitals, government medical facilities, and private doctor’s practices need experienced and knowledgeable coders and billers.

You’ll derive several benefits from spending your time earning a certificate:

Here are just some of the options you can choose between:

Certification Study Resources

When you choose the certification you want, you’ll need to find some study materials to help you ace it on your first try. These study materials are often readily available through online sources. While some of them are free, others do charge a nominal fee. However, the fee often means they are more thorough or have been evaluated by experts. Be sure to find out why you’re paying more before you do so. You wouldn’t want to pay for a study guide that can’t offer you more than a free version does elsewhere. Here are some study options that may help.

Job Boards

For those who are ready to step out onto the work force, it’s important that you have plenty of places to look for jobs in your specialty. Here are a couple job boards meant for professionals just like you; you might also want to check on your association’s website and on some more general job board sites where you can search for specific positions or upload a resume.

Professional Associations

Even once you’ve graduated, your learning is nowhere near complete. Ideally, you should continue learning throughout your life. For this reason, you may choose to join a professional association for medical coders and billers. You’ll benefit by making connections with other professionals, having easy access to professional journals, and learning about new developments in your field quickly.

Professional associations promote continuing education, including access to certification study courses and exams. You will have to pay an annual membership fee which allows you to access these member benefits.

Popular Journals

As you continue on your lifelong journey of learning, you’ll appreciate having access to professional journals in your field. Subscribing to a professional medical billing and coding journal, either independently or through your professional association, will allow you to keep up with what other professionals are discussing and changes being made.

In journals you can read peer-reviewed articles that inform you about the current best practices in your field and trade news, which you can discuss with other members of your profession. If you are looking to enter an administrative position, you’ll be able to educate yourself about recurring and current issues that professionals confront.