Which online school is THE BEST for Medical transcription course?

[snoopy]

I am very much interested in MT. I know a little about basic medical sciences. My childhood dream was to become a doctor, infact a surgeon to be more specific:( . My dream didnt come true. But I am interested in taking MT. Since I am working now, I can only take online course. There are so many sites/ colleges offering the course. I dont know which is good, which is bad. Does anyone have any s***estion? Your experiences would be helpful. Thank you in advance

[karenlyn]

A medical transcription course isn't an actual degree, correct? It's a short course?

Can't you do medical transcription as a work-from-home job? That would be wonderful!

[jpsn]

It takes around a year to obtain a certificate. You can work from home or at a hospital with this. I went to Career Step and I found it to be an excellent school. There aren't any instructors (but you always have help if needed), you teach yourself at your own pace. It is hard work and national companies hire their graduates (and recommend Career Step). You have to pass company tests to get hired after completion of the Career Step final.

In my experience companies hire from one of three places: Andrews, M-Tec, and Career Step.

You will have to check them out to determine which one is the best for you.

Good luck! I can answer any more questions if you need! :)

[snoopy]

Wow.... checked all of the three sites. Seems to be good, but the price is HUGE..... I guess, for the time being, I need to shelf this idea of mine. Please let me know if there are other legit companies which dont charge you a fortune to make a fortune.

[Michelle]

Have you checked with your local technical college? The college I go to right now offers a medical transcription certificate that is basically free for Georgia residents through the HOPE grant, and many classes are offered online or in a hybrid format each quarter. Maybe your state and local college offer a similar program?

[tater03]

Alot of community colleges and vocational schools offer certificates in medical trascription. Be careful with the vocational schools though. I have heard alot of not so good things about some of them.

[Michelle]

I don't know about technical colleges in other states, but our's are great. The one I go to has both Council on Occupational Education accreditation (for technical schools) and SACS accreditation. Oh, and I just remembered, the technical colleges in Georgia have a virtual campus... and it looks like several of the colleges offer medical transcription certificates. http://www.gvtc.org/tcc.asp Some of the colleges are SACS accredited but some of them just have the technical school accreditation, so read through the college descriptions before choosing one. Of the schools offering medical transcription, I'm pretty sure West Central Tech is SACS accredited but I don't know about the rest. I believe tuition is only $62 per credit hour for out of state residents.

[jpsn]

Only problem with that is, a lot of them aren't known in the transcription world. These companies that hire you straight work from home without experience hire only from the schools they know/have experience with.

It is great to get a degree from outside of the schools I mentioned above, but you should plan on working outside of the home to gain experience for at least 1-2 years after getting your education because the companies very rarely will hire you.

A great place to start is to actually call some of these transcription companies and e-mail them and ask them which schools they recommend. Only 3 will come to their mind, I bet.

Usually to get a job in medical transcription it not only takes a certificate, but also 2-3 years experience--waived for certain schools if they have entry-level positions.

I've checked into this a lot before I got started.

[Starlily]

Thanks for all the info JPSN...

I have looked into this a bit too...Although the good online schools are more pricey than some of the less-reputable ones, I phoned some of the technical colleges around here, and their price was over 3 times as much (to physically attend classes)... and I doubt that they would be recognized by companies that hire online MTs... so I think the cost would definitely be worth it for career step...

[jpsn]

Not a problem at all!

Transcriptionresource.com has a huge list of MT companies (all legit)--if you check out the "careers" section a lot will recommend Career Step as a school to go to if you need experience.

Also on www.careerstep.com they have a list of companies who will hire the grads (grads aren't limited to those companies, though).

That's what set my decision up to go there--the fact that so many companies recommended them and also the fact that it was cheaper than the 2 other top schools and still offered an excellent education.

CS also has a school forum that might be worth checking out. The other students/grads can also help answer a lot of your questions and put your mind at ease.

[karenlyn]

Thanks for the link! I have a friend who is looking into Medical Transcription after having had her first child, and she'll definitely be able to use this. There are so many scams out there that a list of legitimate companies is invaluable.

[rubybeetle]

Does anyone know the difference between medical transcription and medical coding? Can you make more money with one or the other?

[Starlily]

My understanding is that coding is assigning codes to procedures and diagnosis for billing and insurance purposes... The salary is similar to MT from what I have seen. I'm not sure though about the WAH opportunities for coders, I *think* most of the jobs are on-site...Does anyone have any more information about this??

[jpsn]

Right now most of the coding is done in-house at a hospital. There are some positions you can get from home, but those are far and few in between. I think they are expecting more and more of this job to be outsourced to home workers, just like medical transcription because it is a cheaper option for the hospital.

[jpsn]

Does anyone know the difference between medical transcription and medical coding? Can you make more money with one or the other?

Coding is more for insurance purposes/billing. Medical transcription is transcribing dictated reports to go into the patient's permanent medical chart. Completely different job.

Pay varies. Coding is more of an hourly rate job--transcription is (in most places, not all) based on production. So depending on how fast you go and how much you work as a transcriptionist you can make more or less than a coder.

Hope that helps!

[rubybeetle]

Yes, it does! Thanks for all the info. I'm considering medical transcription as a work from home job. I think it would be something I can do.

[Loomis05]

I have been search for the top online college for MT. I have some options but I would like to hear from someone that went. If anyone has gone to a online college for MT and liked or disliked it please let me know. I want to make a decsion soon so I can start school. Thank you: )

[papia]

I think, Penn foster is the best.Graduates of the Penn Foster Medical Transcriptionist training program can take advantage of Penn Foster Career Services which include access to information on how to search for and find that great job, tips on interviewing, and preparing a cover letter.

[Starlily]

Papia, I think it is great that you mention career assistance. The serious MT colleges that I have considered also offer employment search assistance to their students included with their program. This is definitely something to take under consideration.

[Latina]

What about financial aid? I went to career step and when I tried to apply there wasn't an option for it...I have applied for financial aid and I am awaiting a response so I was wondering if anyone knew about it or if they used it etc? TIA.

[BrandeX]

http://www.medtranscriptioncourse.com/
under $2500, and Allied is even ACE reviewed for undergrad credits in some of their courses in their various programs, including MT.