Wiki It's been 6 months and can't find a Medical Coding job.

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kary2484

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I have 16 years of hospital background and I am unable to find a job due to my apprentice certification. I have applied everywhere including my very own hospital, where I currently work at and their responses are "we are only hiring people with experiences", then how am I suppose to get my experience if they don't give me an opportunity?! I wish I did my homework before I started the medical coding course. Even if they hire me, I will be working two jobs because I can't afford leaving my current job where is paying me $30 an hour to leave for $18-$25 an hour (which is equivalent to McDonald's pay) because of my lack of experience. In addition, this website is constantly reminding me to renew my membership, which is NOT cheap at all. This company should design a way for people to get their first job as soon as they pass their CPC exam, which by the way I cried because that test was very difficult to pass and also pricey. Oh, the agencies couldn't help me either due to no experience. I feel like this is a dead end for me :0(
 
I agree with the above. I did not realize the market is over saturated with Coders. I have applied for over 100 jobs and most I never hear anything back. I have had the pleasure of getting the generic "we went with someone with more experience" email from a few companies. I feel like I'm 16 applying for my first job. You need experience however no one willing to hire to you to gain the experience. I have 2 colleges degrees, coding experience (not certified at time) and years of experience in the medica/dental field and not even getting a nibble. I even hired a professional resume writer.
I wish us all luck on landing the coding jobs we worked so hard to get!
 
kary2484 said:
I have 16 years of hospital background and I am unable to find a job due to my apprentice certification. I have applied everywhere including my very own hospital, where I currently work at and their responses are "we are only hiring people with experiences", then how am I suppose to get my experience if they don't give me an opportunity?! I wish I did my homework before I started the medical coding course. Even if they hire me, I will be working two jobs because I can't afford leaving my current job where is paying me $30 an hour to leave for $18-$25 an hour (which is equivalent to McDonald's pay) because of my lack of experience. In addition, this website is constantly reminding me to renew my membership, which is NOT cheap at all. This company should design a way for people to get their first job as soon as they pass their CPC exam, which by the way I cried because that test was very difficult to pass and also pricey. Oh, the agencies couldn't help me either due to no experience. I feel like this is a dead end for me :0(
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I have had the misfortune of being on disability so I took the class through Department of Vocational Rehabilitation in the hope of doing this work from home due to medical reasons. I have 18 years as a registered nurse and 10 more as a CNA, but can not find anything either. My DVR rep is telling me now that she can not keep paying for my certification if I am not going to find a job. Although she has had several of her clients enrolled in the program for Medical Billing and I am the only one who finished and passed it, but I am the lollygagger about work. I am at a loss myself on how to find work in this field. Good luck and God bless.
 
It’s been two years for me. I hate paying for the membership every year and not using my certification. Plus, everything is so high from the books to the courses for new certifications. I’m wondering if it‘s the situation with AHIMA. Best of luck to us all, cause I even tried applying for receptionist positions. Everything is 3-5 years experience, associates, or they chose another candidate e-mail but, not a single person trying to let a newbie start from the bottom. At this point, medical billing and coding shouldn’t be a thing since they only want to keep those that’s been there for years in the field. Maybe we should spend more money for more certifications & get in debt for degree, then maybe someone will accept us.
 
I would encourage you to look into coding for the Veterans Administration. They will hire and train CPC-A, and there are often openings available.

I should add that the frequency of openings is not typically due to high turnover. The VA is the largest health system in the US, so it needs many coders to support its operations. As coders retire, they need to be replaced.

(Some may leave due to attrition, but my understanding from conversations with others is that coders tend to stay long-term once they hire in at the VA. Perhaps due to the stability and federal benefits!)

There is a current VA coder who frequently posts tips on how to get hired by the VA in the Entry Level Medical Coders Facebook group. If you go to that group and search for "VA" or "Veterans Administration," you should easily be able to find her posts: https://www.facebook.com/groups/368427913735844
 
mbanks@towson.edu said:
I'm in the same exact spot. I took the medical coding course and passed back in November, but now I'm a CPC-A and can't find a job without experience. I have only seen ONE apprenticeship position open, but I can't afford to leave my job for $15/hour.
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I don't mean to be negative but I am speaking from frustration. Are you able to work part time as a CPC-A ? Or unless you can work both job as long as the hours are not in conflict? At least you have an offer, I got no response. I truly hope the best for you.
 
toniabrawley said:
I have had the misfortune of being on disability so I took the class through Department of Vocational Rehabilitation in the hope of doing this work from home due to medical reasons. I have 18 years as a registered nurse and 10 more as a CNA, but can not find anything either. My DVR rep is telling me now that she can not keep paying for my certification if I am not going to find a job. Although she has had several of her clients enrolled in the program for Medical Billing and I am the only one who finished and passed it, but I am the lollygagger about work. I am at a loss myself on how to find work in this field. Good luck and God bless.
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Thank you for your response. Sending prayers and I hope they call you soon with many job opportunities.
 
nettafontenot said:
It’s been two years for me. I hate paying for the membership every year and not using my certification. Plus, everything is so high from the books to the courses for new certifications. I’m wondering if it‘s the situation with AHIMA. Best of luck to us all, cause I even tried applying for receptionist positions. Everything is 3-5 years experience, associates, or they chose another candidate e-mail but, not a single person trying to let a newbie start from the bottom. At this point, medical billing and coding shouldn’t be a thing since they only want to keep those that’s been there for years in the field. Maybe we should spend more money for more certifications & get in debt for degree, then maybe someone will accept us.
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My next move was to go back to school to finish my bachelor degree which was my initial plan. But I came across this course and then I saw how much my job was posting the positions for $39-$49 an hour and I was totally inspired and motivated. But then again, I leave it in God's hands.
 
I am also in the same boat, I paid for membership and classes, took the exam which was not easy, nor cheap, did pass, however Cannot find a job because of CPC-A in which I have 10 years of billing and coding for a family practice as well as 20+ years as a RN in various genres of health care. The practice I worked for was bought by another company so I can't even get something saying I did the work on their letterhead to have the A removed. I apply for jobs but ultimately do not get the job. I wish I had done my due diligence before going this route. There are co coding jobs unless maybe you have a true in somewhere. I have to keep my CEUs for my RN as well as CPC, but my CPC cues at this point are just a drain.
I'm feeling like this experience was not truthfull.
 
Minotrn57 said:
I am also in the same boat, I paid for membership and classes, took the exam which was not easy, nor cheap, did pass, however Cannot find a job because of CPC-A in which I have 10 years of billing and coding for a family practice as well as 20+ years as a RN in various genres of health care. The practice I worked for was bought by another company so I can't even get something saying I did the work on their letterhead to have the A removed. I apply for jobs but ultimately do not get the job. I wish I had done my due diligence before going this route. There are co coding jobs unless maybe you have a true in somewhere. I have to keep my CEUs for my RN as well as CPC, but my CPC cues at this point are just a drain.
I'm feeling like this experience was not truthfull.
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Have you looked on linkedin? I see jobs there where they will accept a CPC-A all the time. Network on there, get your name out there, and your willingness to work.
 
hello,

I decided to search online for cpc-a, coding jobs on google. I feel I came across a good one and wanted to share. I definitely understand the frustration, I haven't even taken my exam yet, only passed the course. I have never worked in healthcare so I am nervous about my future but hopeful for sure! I live in Chicago where I do see lots of opportunities for coding and healthcare administration. Make sure your resume is tailored to the job, take your time to update it and highlight career wins. Put things in your resume about you optimized a process for the better or saved the company money put an actual dollar amount. Stay positive and keep searching for work !! I will start posting any cpc-a jobs I find. I have applied on Geebo before and got the temp job so I would trust this site.

good luck and let me know if this was helpful,

 
kary2484 said:
I have 16 years of hospital background and I am unable to find a job due to my apprentice certification. I have applied everywhere including my very own hospital, where I currently work at and their responses are "we are only hiring people with experiences", then how am I suppose to get my experience if they don't give me an opportunity?! I wish I did my homework before I started the medical coding course. Even if they hire me, I will be working two jobs because I can't afford leaving my current job where is paying me $30 an hour to leave for $18-$25 an hour (which is equivalent to McDonald's pay) because of my lack of experience. In addition, this website is constantly reminding me to renew my membership, which is NOT cheap at all. This company should design a way for people to get their first job as soon as they pass their CPC exam, which by the way I cried because that test was very difficult to pass and also pricey. Oh, the agencies couldn't help me either due to no experience. I feel like this is a dead end for me :0(
Click to expand...
 
kary2484 said:
I have 16 years of hospital background and I am unable to find a job due to my apprentice certification. I have applied everywhere including my very own hospital, where I currently work at and their responses are "we are only hiring people with experiences", then how am I suppose to get my experience if they don't give me an opportunity?! I wish I did my homework before I started the medical coding course. Even if they hire me, I will be working two jobs because I can't afford leaving my current job where is paying me $30 an hour to leave for $18-$25 an hour (which is equivalent to McDonald's pay) because of my lack of experience. In addition, this website is constantly reminding me to renew my membership, which is NOT cheap at all. This company should design a way for people to get their first job as soon as they pass their CPC exam, which by the way I cried because that test was very difficult to pass and also pricey. Oh, the agencies couldn't help me either due to no experience. I feel like this is a dead end for me :0(
Click to expand...
I am in the exact position as you are. I do wish this company did have some sort of apprenticeship program that they could have placed those who did pass the certification stage. I have been applying to jobs since the first day I received the good news of passing the exam, and to this day I'm still searching and have received endless rejection letter/email. Im even taking the practicode program but even that's hard. I'm so ready to give up with this program but it's hard to because I put in so much money already. I just wish AAPC would actually help with placing us on an actual apprenticeship job, so we can all gain the experience all these companies are looking for.
 
kary2484 said:
I have 16 years of hospital background and I am unable to find a job due to my apprentice certification. I have applied everywhere including my very own hospital, where I currently work at and their responses are "we are only hiring people with experiences", then how am I suppose to get my experience if they don't give me an opportunity?! I wish I did my homework before I started the medical coding course. Even if they hire me, I will be working two jobs because I can't afford leaving my current job where is paying me $30 an hour to leave for $18-$25 an hour (which is equivalent to McDonald's pay) because of my lack of experience. In addition, this website is constantly reminding me to renew my membership, which is NOT cheap at all. This company should design a way for people to get their first job as soon as they pass their CPC exam, which by the way I cried because that test was very difficult to pass and also pricey. Oh, the agencies couldn't help me either due to no experience. I feel like this is a dead end for me :0(
Click to expand...
i feel the same. I passed my CPC in april, I have been looking a job since then. no one told me it would be this hard to get a coding job without experience. job hunting is making me sad right now. :( i hope you find something soon.
 
Unfortunately it seems I'm not alone here. However, I don't have any of the past experiences most of you have. I went from retail work for 15 years. A 2-year break in unemployment. Then I landed a medical clinical data abstraction position in 2020 which was amazing. Unfortunately, they merged with another company. The work I did was project based. They claim they don't have any projects coming in and laid off a large group of us - most from the company that was merged in. I do need remote as I need to be present in the house for our autistic son and younger daughter -- not in the same room, but if no one was in the house who knows what would happen.
 
You may not get a true 'coding' job without experience. But there are other entry-level type jobs in healthcare to which you can apply and then have your foot in the door should a coding position open up.
It's a fallacy that new coders are going to make $30 an hour, so I'm sorry that so many of you believed that to be the case. That's 62K a year, and if you look at the AAPC Salary Survey, that's higher than many coders make across the country--with years of experience.
 
One key thing I hear a lot of in these posts unfortunately is, "I wish I had done my due diligence..", "I wish I had done my homework before...", "I paid a lot of money for the course/class and passed the test...I want $30/hr...."
Jumping in and thinking you can take a course or class, not have experience, and immediately get a remote, high level, high paying job is a bit of a fallacy. I think this goes for any field not just medical coding.
I am sorry people fall for it from some of the "tech schools" or other online schools.

If you are someone that has clinical background such as an RN, LPN, CNA, etc. search the forums here for suggestions. Coders with clinical backgrounds would "should" be better suited for a role sooner that a CPC-A with zero medical background.

I guess I would also ask someone who, according to their post, was currently at $30/hr. why they would want to change roles and start a totally new career.

If you look at some posts from seasoned folks here in the forums, and those that have been at this a long time, you will see what we went through and how long it took to get to where we are today. Most started in "lower", "foot in the door" type roles and moved up in stages.
 
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