OT - does anyone know about online courses?

Afraid that I don't know of any, but good luck and hope it works out for you.

Janner France

Karen, Queen of Squishies wrote:

I suggest you contact your State Board of Higher Education for references! They generally have jurisdiction over correspondence- types of schools, and know who is approved and who is not. Also, I suggest you check with the medical records departments at area hospitals, since they do the hiring and firing and will be able to tell you where their personnel were trained. Many of the "work at home" things in the medical field are scams in that no reputable medical office will allow sensitive medical data to leave their offices. (There is actually a relatively new federal law about medical privacy -- HIPPA -- that will probably apply.) Is there a community college in your area? Try them.

Most junior colleges offer online classes. Check with your county junior college and see. Another would be a local technical college. These are good places to start for accreditation.

I worked for an online college until I found out they were a diploma mill. They ruined lives when the people tried to get jobs.

I don't mean to scare you Karen, just be cautious.

DD2 has the sort of job you're looking for. She works at home, at 3 o'clock in the morning if that suits her - in her jammies and with a Yorkie in her lap if that suits him. I agree with what you've been told; check with your local hospital and clinics and see what credentials they prefer. That should put you on the right track. Good luck, you can do it. Polly

Karen, i do this for a living but at an office. be prepared to learn a lot of information. not only HIPAA compliances, but probably over 200 insurance plans, several forms, terminology, coding of both CPT and ICD-9. keep up with all the insurance plan changes,electronic billing, and all the other stuff that goes with it. it's not just keying in numbers to a computer and printing out forms. there's so much more to billing. good luck...it took me 15 years to get to the level of expertise i'm at...but jump right in...the waters deep!!

amy in CNY