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Putting enough pennies together to attend top medical coding schools can sometimes be a challenge. CNBC reported that today’s college tuition prices are up 163 percent from 30 years ago in 1988. The College Board found that public, two-year institutions have the most affordable average at $3,570 per year. However, picking four-year universities like Purdue Global, Indiana, Alaska Southeast, Grantham, and Herzing for your medical coding training will bring up median costs of $9,970 to $34,740. That’s even before certification expenses, such as the $300 AAPC professional exam, become due. Scholarships are great financial aid tools that bequeath non-repayable money to reduce your out-of-pocket price. Let’s look into nine of the best scholarships for medical coding programs.

AHIMA Foundation Veteran’s Scholarship

Open July 1st to September 30th each year, the Veteran’s Scholarship from the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Foundation suits returning, honorably discharged heroes. The $1,000 award is reserved for former active-duty Army, Navy, Air Force, Maine Corps, Coast Guard, and National Guard members or their spouses who seek associate HIT programs, including medical coding. Please submit two letters of support, DD214 forms, verification of enrollment in 6+ college credits, and a maximum 400-word goals essay.

Health Record Services Endowed Scholarship

Founded by President Wendy Copland-Gould, RHIA, in 2018, the Health Record Services Endowed Scholarship will gift $1,000 on November 30th annually to single working mothers who are pursuing associate-level study in medical coding or health information technology. Eligibility criteria requires having at least one dependent under age 18, entering a CAHIIM-accredited college, taking six or more credits, and holding cumulative GPAs above 3.5. Work experience, leadership skills, life challenges, essay clarity, and dedication to the HIM profession are evaluated.

ASAHP Scholarship of Excellence

Located in Washington, DC, since 1967, the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP) under president Susan Hanrahan is conveying the $1,000 Scholarship of Excellence to entry-level healthcare, including medical coding, majors. Qualified nominees need to have finished one term at one of the 116 member colleges, such as Drexel University, Indiana University, University of Utah, and Bowling Green State University. Four copies of the application, endorsement letter, résumé, and 200-word typewritten personal essay must arrive by June 11th.

Steve Lieber Innovator Scholarship

Worth $5,000, the Steve Lieber Innovator Scholarship is granted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society to current HIMSS members in good standing at accredited undergrad schools of health. Medical coding students entering by September 25th must outline an original idea for using digital technology to revolutionize patient records acquisition. Linked to Smart City Networks, the program requires a 1,000-word project description, two letters of reference, and agreement to attend the HIMSS Annual Conference.

Sarah Bush Lincoln Volunteer Guild Scholarship

Accredited by The Joint Commission, the 129-bed Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center launched the Volunteer Guild Scholarship in 1979 to support the selfless, unpaid service of regional caretakers. This $1,000 prize helps SBL members living in a 19-county area of Illinois afford finishing medical-related community college or university programs with GPAs of 3.5 or greater. Don’t miss the April 15th deadline for submitting the work history, educational budget, one-page personal profile, official transcript, proof of enrollment, and two current references.

Horatio Alger Career & Technical Scholarship

Named for the 1868 Ragged Dick author of the Gilded Age, the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans Inc. grants the $2,500 Career & Technical Scholarship to 1,020 U.S. high school graduates or GED holders each year. It’s ideal for individuals under age 30 who’ve overcome hardship and great financial need to attend vocational programs, especially medical coding, at two-year, nonprofit colleges. By June 15th, create an online ID for submitting the adversity statement, support form, transcript, tax return copies, and citizenship proof.

Richard and Louise Varco Scholarship Fund

Managed by Scholarship America, the Richard and Louise Varco Scholarship Fund carries on the St. Paul couple’s legacy by presenting up to $5,000 to high school seniors or displaced workers returning to school. Opening December 15th, the contest could help medical coding majors enrolling full-time at accredited two-year institutions, such as Anoka Technical College or Normandale Community College, in Minnesota with at least a “B-” average. The SPMCF application needs a transcript, personal statement of intent, reference form, and proof of financial need.

OMACCS Workforce Tuition Scholarships

Totaling $40,000 each year, the Ohio-Michigan Association of Career Colleges and Schools (OMACCS) Workforce Tuition Scholarships offer $600 to five certificate, $1,200 to 10 diploma, or $2,500 to 10 degree students in vocational study. Medical coding qualifies if majors live in these Midwest states, enroll at least half-time, have unmet funding, and apply before April 6th. Applications are incomplete without high school attendance records, LEADS! nomination forms, transcripts, two recommendations, and 250-word written merit statements.

George & Lucille Cushnie Scholarship Fund

Celebrating its 100th anniversary, the Hawaii Community Foundation (HCF) says aloha to $4.5 million in annual financial aid, including the George & Lucille Cushnie Scholarship Fund that caters to healthcare professionals like medical coders. The $1,000 award picks Big Island residents with financial need and minimum 2.7 GPAs who are enrolling in medical curricula full-time at two- or four-year nonprofits. Log into your account before January 31st to send the transcript, Student Aid Report, one recommendation, and 900-word personal statement.

Community college graduates face average debt of $11,384 in the Class of 2018. To avoid over-borrowing loans, it’s important to apply for all types of federal, state, and college aid. The FAFSA application can be submitted until June 30th annually for Federal Pell and FSEOG Grant funds. Look for local grants like the New York Tuition Assistance Program and Florida Resident Access Program. Paychecks twice monthly are possible with Federal Work-Study jobs on campus too. Building up a comprehensive financial assistance package with these and other medical coding scholarships, such as the Coding with Confidence Scholarship, AAPC Hardship Scholarship, Robert D. Kruse Memorial Scholarship, Scott W. Hulstein Scholarship, and Kathleen A. Frawley Scholarship, will help save big.

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Work from home medical billing and coding jobs can be the biggest draw to healthcare IT training for adults seeking great work-life balance. Global Workplace Analytics reports that the number of telecommuters has risen by 115 percent to 3.7 million since 2005. Nearly 50 percent of U.S. labor is now suitable for working at home at least half time! That’s especially apparent in healthcare where secured patient records can be sent digitally to medical coders and billers’ own homes. Working remotely can be beneficial for setting one’s own schedules, saving money on childcare, avoiding office politics, wearing comfortable wardrobe, and reducing stress along with pollution. Therefore, we’ve surveyed the work from home openings at top employers like Maxim Health, Aviacode, SourceMed, and Robert Half to outline the four most important qualifications for coders and billers.

Medical Coding and Billing Education

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Typing up applications for healthcare work from home jobs won’t be very successful with only a high school diploma or GED. Attending a community college or private school for medical coding and billing training is virtually required today. Employers will expect new hires to have spent six to 18 months in a certificate program or two to three years for an associate degree. Some may even require that one’s education be accredited by the CAHIIM for high-quality informatics expertise. Studying medical billing and coding will generally involve six to 20 courses, such as Pathology, Electronic Medical Records, Body Systems, and Insurance Reimbursement. Picking schools with real-world practicum and/or virtual labs is suggested to jumpstart experience. Approved coding programs are usually sufficient to start telecommuting, but some outliers might request a B.S. in Health Information Technology.

Advanced Knowledge of HIT Procedures

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In 2017, Medical Billing Advocates of America reported a high error rate of 80 percent that costs 7 million U.S. citizens $1,300 more on average! To fix inaccuracy problems, healthcare companies are seeking coding and billing staff with advanced knowledge of HIT operations. Work from home jobs will require being fluent in the classification codes used to file confidential records. Considering the Becker’s Hospital Review counted 71,924 procedural and 69,823 diagnosis codes in the ICD-10 system, this necessitates plenty of training. Medical billers and coders telecommuting will need basic clinical proficiency to know terminology like dysphasia from dysphagia. Proficiency of high-tech HIT software, including NueMD and Encoder Pro, is expected. Employers also seek work from home candidates with communication skills, ambition, moral integrity, focus, and good critical judgment.

AHIMA or AAPC Professional Certification

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Seeing a medical coding and billing worker’s certification can help convince employers that they’re trained to function without in-office supervision. The majority of work from home opportunities will rely on candidates’ completion of one of two hallmark credentials. First, the American Health Information Management Association has the Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) designation. Eligibility requires a postsecondary certificate or two years of coding-related experience. Hopeful coders submit a $75 application fee to take the 97-question, four-hour exam at Pearson VUE testing centers. Second, the American Association of Professional Coders offers the Certified Professional Coder (CPC) and Certified Professional Biller (CPB) titles. Applicants with college training need to score at least 70 percent on the 150-question, five-hour exam that currently costs members $300.

Two or More Years of Coding/Billing Experience

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Healthcare facilities and staffing agencies generally won’t feel comfortable handing out independent, work from home positions to newbies. Most telecommuting jobs for medical billers and coders will stipulate having at least 24 months of relevant résumé experience first. The U.S. Department of Labor shows that HIT operations will stimulate 27,800 new jobs by 2026 for swift 13 percent growth, so one’s job search won’t be long. The AAPC Jobs Board makes finding experience-building healthcare employment simple by keyword or zip code. Updating LinkedIn profiles, job shadowing, joining associations like the Healthcare Business Management Association, and networking at the AMBA National Conference or other events can get feet in doors. Also don’t underestimate the power of medical coding and billing internship programs, such as Project Extern with 200+ approved sites.

Now’s an excellent time to begin training for work from home jobs to make certain patient charts are factually coded for smooth insurance claim processes. Some great schools offering certificates on-site or online include Cape Cod Community College, Joliet Junior College, Phoenix College, Jackson College, St. Catherine University, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, and Delaware County Community College. With more advanced training, work from home medical billing and coding jobs could even lead to health IT careers like cancer registrar, revenue cycle specialist, nurse informaticist, health data analyst, and records technician.

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The 20 Best From Home Top Medical Coding Schools And Programs

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Completing the top medical coding and billing programs online is an inexpensive move with tremendous salary return on investment (or ROI). According to Money magazine, community college remains the cheapest education route with annual mean tuition of $3,520. Two-year associate degrees in medical coding and billing only cost $7,040 on average, less than nine months at most senior universities. Plus, many students qualify for up to $2,500 from the American Opportunity Tax Credit to cover costs. Considering you’ll have little debt, medical coding and billing careers lead to comfortable salaries above the 2016 Census median personal income of $31,099. Let’s dig into specific numbers to discover what you can earn post-graduation as a medical coder or biller.

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Average Earnings in Medical Coding and Billing

Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ May 2016 report, it’s determined that the median yearly wage for medical coding and billing professionals is $38,040. The 200,140 U.S. health informatics jobs garnered pay from $12.05 to $30.21 per hour. The bottom 10th percentile earns $25,070 per year, while the top 10th percentile snags $62,840 annually. PayScale showed that medical coding and billing specialists earned bonuses of $184 to $5,135 this year for total pay of $24,562 to $50,508.

Medical coding and billing staff with AAPC membership report a mean salary of $49,872. Non-certified members make $39,956 and certified members bring home $52,588 on average. Entry-level medical coding and billing jobs unsurprisingly earn the lowest average at $35,906. Yet, workers with 30+ years of experience make a typical salary of $67,162. Sixty percent of AAPC survey respondents were satisfied with their job and only 12.3 percent sought better pay.

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Salary Expectations by Medical Coding and Billing Workplace

How much you earn after the best medical coding and billing programs online will fluctuate based on your job placement. Most health information technicians (68,820) work in general medical and surgical hospitals for yearly average earnings of $44,160. Medical coding and billing jobs in physician offices make below average at $35,490. On the other hand, those working for specialty hospitals, government agencies, and insurance carriers claim the highest mean salaries at $44,370, $47,520, and $54,620 respectively.

Generally, health care facilities that employ bigger workforces will compensate better. Certified medical coding and billing graduates working in single-specialty practices with one to 10 doctors earn $45,722 on average. Mean health informatics salaries rise to $47,773 at outpatient care centers, $49,452 at large medical groups, and $51,389 at multi-group health systems. Inpatient facilities are also hiring many medical coders and billers for 5.4 percent growth since 2015.

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Top-Paying Regions for Medical Coding and Billing Staff

Regional demographics play a pivotal role in determining salaries for medical coding and billing job offers. According to the AAPC 2016 Salary Survey, certified members in the Mid-Atlantic saw a 2.9 percent salary increase to $53,757. Only the Pacific Region pays better with a mean wage of $57,005. Other pay averages include $51,310 in the Mountain States, $48,213 in the Midwest, $49,767 in the Southeast, and $53,504 in New England. Certified medical coders and billers earn the least in the East South-Central Region for $47,587 on average.

Closer looks into income diversity by location show that the best-paid medical coding and billing jobs are in New Jersey for a median wage of $60,000 per year. The BLS crowns Alaska, California, Maryland, and Colorado as runner-ups with mean salaries of $56,920, $48,840, $48,730, and $48,730 respectively on the BLS website. The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale Metro employs the most medical coders and billers (5,790) for average pay of $47,330. However, New Jersey’s Newark Metro provides the highest mean wage of $63,450.

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Pay Potential for Different Medical Coding and Billing Jobs

Medical coding and billing has an attractive job outlook that’s expected to create 27,800 new positions by 2026 for faster-than-average growth of 13 percent. That’s partly because the Health IT Dashboard found that 96 percent of hospitals eligible for Medicare and Medicaid have adopted electronic health records (EHRs). Combine this with the fact that the United States’ number of senior citizens will double to 98 million by 2060 and you’ve got a red-hot medical sector. Here are income expectations for several jobs under the medical coding and billing umbrella.

• Inpatient or Outpatient Coder – Using ICD-10 and CPT codes, inpatient or outpatient coders translate complex patient documents for billing with mean pay of $39,953.

• Medical Billing Specialist – Medical billing specialists are compensated $39,055 on average for using coded charts to create patient invoices and insurance claims.

• Medical Scribe – For a mean annual wage of $32,307, medical scribes act as physician’s personal assistants to organize clinical patient data into EHRs during treatment.

• Coding Compliance Specialist – Coding compliance specialists are CPCs who audit medical records to check quality standards for a median wage of $58,192.

• Cancer Registrar – For $41,431 on average, cancer registrars capture essential medical history, diagnosis, and treatment data in EHRs for every oncology patient.

• Medical Records Coding Manager – With 5+ years of experience, medical records coding managers make mean salaries of $66,512 for supervising coders.

• Enrollment & Billing Supervisor – Enrollment & billing supervisors are experienced medical staff who oversee staff responsible for processing claims at $62,958 per year.

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Increasing Your Medical Coding and Billing Career Profits

Although wages enlarge naturally with years of experience, there are steps medical coding and billing program graduates can take to spark better revenue. One of the best ways to rack up dollar signs is earning more credentials. One AAPC credential garners a mean salary of $52,605, but three certifications pay off with $66,999. The Certified Documentation Expert Outpatient (CDEO) program gifts the biggest annual earnings at $83,654. Certified Professional Compliance Officers (CPCO) also snare a profitable mean wage of $75,680.

Advancing your education is another smart choice to bolster your income. Coders and billers can attend CAHIIM-accredited bachelor’s degrees to qualify for the RHIA exam that unlocks a median salary of $88,580. Some become full-time community college professors for average pay at $72,470. If you’re tech-saavy, you could pursue training in health IT management and software development for mean wages of $111,500 and $100,690 respectively. Transferring credits from the best medical coding and billing programs online into bachelor’s education may even open HIT executive jobs worth $127,500.

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Remote medical coding training programs are short-term, Web-based educational course sequences where students transform into health documentation specialists. These online programs use platforms like Canvas, Blackboard, and Moodle to teach the fundamentals of coding patient records at a distance. Medical coding training helps remote learners master the CPT, ICD-10, and HCPCS methods used to translate complex clinical procedures into ciphers recognized by billers. Registering for remote medical coding training lets adults easily prepare for AAPC credentials, including Certified Inpatient Coder (CIC). Online medical coder programs foster virtual discussions on topics like diagnostic coding and pathophysiology to enter today’s healthcare market where job growth will surpass 21 percent through 2020.

Types of Remote Medical Coding Training Programs

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Most remote medical coding training programs will confer a postsecondary certificate in as little as three months after a high school diploma or GED. Accredited online medical coding certificates cover 18 to 42 credits of career-specific basics for entry-level practice without a general education core. Medical coding associate degrees are the next step up for perfecting a wider range of healthcare skills. Requiring 60 to 75 credits, these two-year, full-time remote training programs mix academic subjects like English with career and virtual coding practicum courses. Although rarer, some online degrees can award a Bachelor of Science in Heath Information Management for coders. This four-year, 120-credit remote option would nurture the administrative capabilities for clinical leadership with the esteemed RHIA title.

Remote Medical Coding Training Program Examples

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Eighty percent of today’s coders have attended community colleges or universities for specialized healthcare training. Here are great examples of medical coding programs that are conveniently available in remote formats.

• Lone Star College Harris – Medical Coding Certificate
• Lanier Technical College – Medical Coding Specialist Certificate
• Grantham University – Associate of Applied Science in Medical Coding and Billing
• Central Maine Community College – Medical Coding and Electronic Health Records A.A.S.
• University of Mississippi – B.S. in Health Informatics and Information Management

Benefits of Going Remote for Medical Coding Training

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Logging into remote medical coding training programs can happen anytime 24/7 to fit online courses into your off hours. You’ll waste less time and money than commuting to a physical campus, instead accessing digital textbooks, recorded lectures, and Web conferences. Computer-based medical terminology quizzes will provide rapid online feedback for evaluating your progress without grading time. Online medical coding degrees give you the tech skills and self-discipline needed for future remote coding jobs. Healthcare employers usually won’t view remote medical coding training programs as inferior, so your credits will be recognized for job promotions. If your city doesn’t have medical coding training, remote schools also give you more geographic freedom to reach your aspirations.

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The 15 Best Remote Medical Coding and Training Programs Online