Out with the old and in with the new

When I decided to go back to school to further my education and obtain a degree, I thought it would open doors that would lead to opportunities that would allow for growth. I worked in retail for 10 years. I had good days, and I had bad. Customers could be rude and demanding and sometimes extremely shading. Being a member of management, I felt a sense of needing to protect the staff, so I often took on difficult customers. The scheduling was awful. I often worked weekends and evenings, and most holidays. I missed most of my daughter’s award ceremonies in her elementary school years. This company was open every day of the year, so working Thanksgiving and Christmas was not unheard of. I remember being super ill one day and I called in sick; the manager told me I could only call off if I found someone else to cover for me. It was not an easy challenge, and it should not have been my responsibility. It was not a family friendly job. 

I decided to go back to college. I studied medical coding and billing, a field they said was growing and had potential to work from home. 63.7% of medical records specialist work remotely in 2023 (Dick, 2024). I finished school after two years and received my associates degree. The education program really focused on the coding part of the certification but not much of the medical billing, so I chose to participate in an externship for medical billing with a third-party company. I was accepted into a 240-hour unpaid externship program. During this time, I had to put in 6-7 hours of work in the morning at the medical billing office and then go to work for 8-9 hours at my paying job. As a mother of two, I was away from the house from 6:30am until 11:30pm for several weeks. It took a lot of dedication and sacrifice to make it to the completion of 240 hours. During my 2nd to last week with the externship company, I received a call from a contracting company asking me to interview for a medical biller position. I was so excited, my hard work was paying off. I went to the interview, and I secured the job. 

In my new position, I traded my decent paying, union, horrible scheduled job for an entry level paying, 8am-5pm Monday through Friday job. I made financial sacrifices for a better schedule. My kids were very happy about this because I was able to drop them off at school and still make them dinner, all on the same day! I was home for sports in the evenings and on weekends. This job seemed to be a dream come true compared to the retail job I had before. I also got along well with my new coworkers; my direct boss was amazing. My new career also has a potential for career and salary growth. “The highest salary average is in California, at $76,695” (Dick, 2024). Going back to college was a great choice for me.  

 

Dick, M. (2024, February). Medical Records Specialists Reach Higher Ground in Healthcare. AAPC Knowledge Center. https://www.aapc.com/blog/89864-medical-records-specialists-reach-higher-ground-in-healthcare/?msockid=154b90e54edb6dec1e799f324f616cda