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I am thinking about going to school to become a medical transcriptionist after I retire next year.

What type of accreditation should the school have? What type of training/diploma/certification are employers looking for?

I have been doing searches on the web, but don't sure what type of school I should look for.

Thanks!

Bumping in hopes that others will read and give advice.

[This message edited by mysticpenguin at 6:43 PM, October 25th (Friday)]

I was wondering the same thing for billing/coding. Would the same advice apply to that?

I am eligible to retire at 55 from my current job, but I won't be able to live on those benefits and I will have to get medical insurance of some kind. I figure anything in the health care field is bound to be a good vocation.

NL

Mystic...I have been a RN for 26 years. Do you know if there is a national certification for medical transcriptionist that I should make sure the community college grants when you complete the program?

Thanks for the help

Hi h2m!

I know a lady that's wrangled a way to do that from home. Pretty cool.

I'd think with your experience, (26 yrs. wow!) you'd be able to ask your connections, or if they know anyone, etc.

- You already know medical terminology

- You CAN spell

All that's left is typing speed and a foot-pedal baby!

Just thinking of an easy way for you to do it, is all. Your 26 yrs in the trenches should open a few doors would be my guess. I'd hire ya!

Best of luck to you either way!

@Nl - I know a few people who have become quite wealthy dt coding skillz.

I think madseason is a med transcriptionist.

I don't work in a hospital, so don't have any connections, really. I want to work from home, part-time (...that or win the lottery!!)

Beware!!

There's a huge push with federal funding for physician groups to adopt the EMR and therefore streamline many tasks. We used to have outside "transcriptionists" and they were let go as they centralized the dictation/medical records. I think something along those lines also happened to coders. I'd talk with people in your area that actually do it. Schools are looking to sell their programs, they are not looking out for you.

:)

[This message edited by mysticpenguin at 6:44 PM, October 25th (Friday)]

I have been an MT for over 10 years. Even back then it was nearly impossible to get a job just out of school (1-year program). Once I was hired, I did almost two more years of on-the-job training working there at the clinic. After five years, I was able to switch to contractor status and work at home. During my eighth year, 10 days before Christmas, our whole department was let go due to outsourcing.

Even with my experience, it was awful to try to find another job and the pay was sad. I worked one place for a year (from home) and took home about $275.00 after expenses for the entire year.

For the last three years I have worked at home for a wonderful local clinic. They had originally outsourced, but the work was so awful they hired back their old staff plus me. I make good money, but it was a long road to get here. No benefits. Long hours. The past two years the doctors have slowly started moving to voice and/or direct entry. My job can go at any time.

Honestly, this is not a field I would recommend. The big services pay very low wages and demand set schedules, mandatory overtime, and still mostly no benefits.

Feel free to PM me if you have any more specific questions.

I love what I do, it is sad to see how cheap labor and poor technology has been chosen over quality and loyalty over and over again.

Thank you everyone!!

I'm an MT. I took the course with Career Step. It *was* hard to get my foot in the door and find a job at first, but I have been with my company for almost 4 years now. I would think your experience as an RN would help you there. And it is true that many places are going to voice recognition (I lost one of my accounts because of this because I chose not to train to do the VR), but they still need transcriptionists for editing in those cases.

With the company I am with I work from home part-time and basically choose my own hours. With 3 kids that is perfect for me and I love it. The money isn't great (I couldn't support myself on what I make), but my income is only meant to be extra in addition to WH's income so it's not that big a deal for me. I would say that I bring in anywhere from $800 to $1200 a month doing it part-time.