Professional Continuing Education for Medical Coders

One valuable commodity on the Internet is readily accessible continuing education programs for professionals. However, where nursing continuing education (CE) programs can be easily found on hundreds of nursing websites, professional continuing education programs for those in the medical coding and billing industry remain scarce.

One possible reason is that nurses were always expected to continue their education beyond the classroom to maintain their licenses, and secure their job. However, when it comes to unlicensed allied healthcare professionals, such as the medical coder, it was not expected until just recently.

Now that new state laws and rules in Medicare, HIPAA, and OIG compliance are on the rise, suddenly employers realize that having only the best staff under their employ pays off big! Now, when they hire they try to select applicants that are certified over those who are not.

This increased awareness has contributed to a new trend, where more and more medical coding and billing professionals elect to sit for medical coding and billing certification exams to get their credentials. It is an important step toward professional excellence.

RISING ABOVE THE CHALLENGE!

Being a professional means commitment to continuing one's education and to pursue practice enhancing learning. This commitment to self improvement in field-specific aspects of professional competence, such as foundational knowledge and technical skills is very important to remain competitive in the field and reach higher goals. However, obtaining enough annual contact hours to maintain professional credentials can be a challenge at times.

One big concern for professionals who need annual Continuing Education Units (CEU's) is lack of availability, money, and time. They often work full time and have extremely tight schedules, family obligations and limited funds which makes it difficult.

When medical billers and coders need the latest health care news and annual CEU's in an uncomplicated, straight forward environment they can always count on BC Advantage Magazine, and the Online CEU Center! Not only that... 

There also is an active medical billing forum designed specifically for medical billing and coding professionals. We highly recommend this invaluable resource to all our medical billers and coders.

Working Medical Billing and Coding Professionals

• You Are Working Hard And You Have Earned It... 
• Whether you are a recent graduate of a medical coding and billing program or already working in the medical coding and billing industry... 
• Show employers and clients that YOU mean business
• Document that YOUR skills are a "cut above" the rest
• Remain competitive in this rapidly growing job market

Most Comprehensive Medical Billing Course Available!

Comprehensive, affordable online home-study! Insturctors are REAL professionals. Software and support is superb. We highly recommend the Medical Billing Course and encourage you to consider joining this program as soon as you can..

Whether To Start Your Own Medical Billing Business

Medical billers can bring vast knowledge and flexibility to the table when they function as medical reimbursement consultants to medical practices and clinics to help them become more efficient.

In our research we came across Synergy MIS, a service that offers medical billing business solutions that meets all expectations. Synergy MIS left an immediate impression on us as the premier solution for the new and established home based or small medical billing office.

How to Overcome Lack of Work Experience

New Medical Coding and Billing Program Graduates:

How to Overcome Lack of Work Experience

More and more employers who hire medical billing and insurance coding staff are looking for professionals with one to two years experience in the field. New graduates find it hard to land their first job without it. 

They always seem to fall into the controversial "I can't get work without experience, and I can't get experience without work" rut, which is hard to escape. However...

Although this is always a challenge, there are ways to overcome lack of work experience when applying for a job. The trick is to highlight other selling points and making a good impression.

Request an appointment with the human resource manager or nurse supervisor to learn what they are looking for. Find out if there is room for exceptions. Tell them what you can offer their facility and how great of an asset you will be.

Try to offer your service by volunteering. Mention relevant skills you have, such as your accomplishments while you were in school, or college; include scholastic awards and --most importantly: mention your externship! Time spent in a medical office in form of the externship is work experience.

Never arrive empty handed. Be prepared to mention how satisfied your former employers, field supervisors, clients, andinstructorss were, supported by as many letters of recommendation that you can get.

Anyone attending a job fair should bring several copies of a well written resume, dress professionally, and be prepared for on-the-spot interviews.

Southern University Career Services Baton Rouge, Louisiana suggests the following dos and don'ts for women dressing for an interview:

1. Dress in a simple and clean manner.

2. Select clothing appropriate for the job you are interviewing for.

3. Wear natural colored hose.

4. Wear plain shoes with closed heels and toes.

Those who do not have a business attire should select clothing appropriate for the job such as crisp clean scrubs, along with a name tag, professional badge, and sparkling white nurse's shoes.

Discuss other valuable skills you've under your belt, such as those acquired through activities in community groups, volunteer work, or even personal interests. 

Don't forget courses, workshops, or seminars taken outside the medical assisting profession, for example in sales, interpersonal communication, languages, customer services, data entry, computer applications, and word-processing.

All this can help to convince a new employer, that although you may not have the requested amount of work experience in your new role as a medical assistant, you are certainly worth their attention and consideration for the job.