Wiki Medical Coders who make $100k/year, how did you do it?

[Jpad]

When answering, kindly itemize the following as well:
1. Experience in the field
2. Location
3. Type of facility
4. Credentials

Thank you!

 

[mitchellde]

You should ask yourself what you are willing to do and or sacrifice for this salary. The path I took will not be the same as yours. Why do you feel you need or deserve this salary and go from there. Remember that a coder is generally a worker bee. The worker bee can never make more that those who supervise above them. That is just a fact. So if as a worker bee you feel that this is a fair and attainable salary then you are looking for an organization/facility where the top dog makes in the millions. This is not typical in a medical facility. You will also most likely be looking in a large metropolitan area. So the cost of living will be very high. 100k does not go as far in a large metropolitan area and may be equivalent to say 60k in a smaller area. So you have to look at the quality of life and does that suit your lifestyle. If coders could easily make 100k and work anywhere they pleased then the market would be saturated. You should do more research into how attainable this will be without going into management. Now if you go into consulting and "be your own boss", then quite possibly you will attain or even pass that goal. So why doesn't everyone do that? Again quality of life. As a self employed consultant you will put in many long hours, no vacations and you get all the overhead to pay for, such as equipment, and healthcare. You must be better than an average coder and be recognized as such. It takes years to earn this recognition. You must put yourself out there and do things that set you apart. There are tons of consultants.. only a few are really successful.
So the real questions are the ones you must ask yourself. How much are you willing to give up? How much are you willing to invest (time and dollars)? How long are you willing to wait for it?
So to get where I am it took me nearly over 50 years. That is no joke that is real. I started as a worker bee in 1962. I kept at it and I worked absolutely every angle in the business. Hospital to physician to insurance to legislative.
How much do I make.... not going to say.
Did I get to where I wanted to be. Absolutely.. am I happy....absolutely.

 

[avon4117]

im not making 100,000 but i am making enough money to live comfortably...it took me 30 years to get where I am...full time remote coder and I absolutely love it