A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Copyediting or medical coding as a career after MT

Posted: Jan 10, 2016

Hello,

I do not have the money to keep spending on no where careers. I am wondering what people think would be the better at home career for someone who is already an MT? Someone a few years back said she was an MT and got into copyediting after.

For those who don't know, a copyeditor is kind of like a proofreader but they also look at content. A medical coder codes procedures, etc. for billing purposes. I have looked into both and cannot make a decision. Thank you so much for any advice. And no, I am not a troll.

;

Coding is not an "at home" job - Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
I think that copy editor might be more appropriate, because medical coding is not a good choice for an "at home" job. It is a high accuracy, high production job that requires a huge amount of expensive training and credentials. It is possible to get a remote job if you have the right training and credentials, but it is not easy to do so. There is only one school that is consistently successful with this but even their students have to work to make it happen.

Coding could work for you, but the term "at home job" communicates that you are interested in a mommy job, or that you have a medical problem that interferes with your ability to work, or something else that would also interfere with your ability to work effectively as a professional coder. There is, unfortunately, the requirement that you leave your home to take credentialing exams, attend CEU training, and likely train on the job for a period of time before being able to work at home. One company requires their new coders to train on site at the parent office for six weeks, and another requires it for 12. There is just too much on site activity for coding to be an alternative for you at this time.

Legal transcription - wordie

[ In Reply To ..]
Another suggestion would be to contact local court reporting/legal transcription companies to see if they hire remote transcriptionists for hearings, depositions, and other types of legal/court/police work in your state or possibly nationwide. I made the switch, and have learned since that MTs can be right at the top of the list for many of these companies to be hired and trained doing this work (hence you'll often see those job ads here), as we can hit the ground running in terms of transcription skills, equipment, self-motivation, etc. Good luck!

Thank you for your informative replies. - OP

[ In Reply To ..]
I do not drive and I do have a medical condition which limits what I can do. Thank you for answering me honestly without being condescending. I will also look into the legal transcription end of things. I know before it really didn't pay what I thought it would, although that was just one company. Thanks again!

There are - many places

[ In Reply To ..]
that are hiring "at-home" coders. go to the coding section of this forum and read some of the posts on that page, or ask questions there. I was just on line searching about coding, and there are many places that hire at home workers... so do not believe one nay-sayer on this board. check out opportunities for yourself. Courses, however, are on the expensive side, but from what I was told by one coder, you could probably finish in 4-6 months, with your transcription background helping, and get your licenses pretty quickly. anyway, do not believe everything one person says on this board. do your own investigation and choose what is right for you!!

I'm sure there are but - OP

[ In Reply To ..]
as the person above stated I would have to go out of the house to obtain licensing and CEUs. Not to mention if I ever had to go to the office for something. I do not drive so that would be a challenge.

I did get an MT job at home out of school but I don't know if that was the best thing I could have done for myself. I do know that coding is highly precise and I am not sure if getting an at home job in it would be a good idea.

I like the advice on here though and that is why I posed the question.

proofreader - CC

[ In Reply To ..]
I do proofing and editing on the side. At the moment, it's not enough to turn into a full-time job, but I really like it. I've learned a lot from reading their work. It's good money and would like to do more of it. It's done at home. They email me what they want proofed/edited. When I'm finished, I email it to them as a new attachment. One student is long distance and mails me a check. The other is local and brings a check to my home. If you want to try it, talk to anyone you might know who is a student in college (or has a child in college), see if they need a proofreader (most do) and if they'd give you a try on their next paper. If they get a better grade with your edits, then you may have a customer. (Just saying, you don't change their work at all. It really is just editing, polishing spelling, punctuation, sometimes substituting an appropriate word when they've overused a term, etc.)

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