Online Medical Coding Program Helps High School and GED Grads Earn Big

Boston, MA, March 25, 2008 --(PR.com)-- According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, allied health careers, such as medical billing/coding specialist, are among the fastest growing and most in-demand across the nation.

There is a critical shortage of medical coders nationwide and a high demand for those holding national certifications from the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) or the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC).

Partners.org, a network of more than 200 hospitals in Boston (founded by Mass General, Brigham and Woman’s, and others) and Harvard Medical School have listed only medical coding as a career on their website (offering $32,00 as a starting salary). This is due the critical shortage.

Getting educated and certified as a medical coder can help participants successfully pursue other careers in healthcare or medicine (such as nursing, pharmacy, or even physician practices). In this way, medical coding can serve as a major foundation and gateway to other healthcare careers.

OnlineCareerAdvancement.com (OCA), online medical coding courses, was started by college professors in Boston, Massachusetts. OCA has successfully trained and certified students from the some of the most prominent hospitals and physician practices around the world.

Founding professor, Leonard Cox, says "most of our students are already in the medical coding and/or billing field. Even though we are honored to be able to satisfy their professional development needs, part of the mission of OCA is to help alleviate the critical shortage of certified medical coders; of course, this means that we must provide incentives for people to consider entering the profession."

To fulfill their primary mission of helping to alleviate the critical shortage of certified medical coders, OCA has taken the same program that they offer via colleges and subsidized it by 70% (from $1,600 down to $499), extended course access time, and increased instructor support in a personalized way. The program is called Personalized Learning Program or PLP.

PLP provides an excellent opportunity for those with limited finances and no healthcare experience to pursue a the medical coding profession.

The Certified Coding Associate (CCA) national credential requires just a high school or GED diploma. PLP prepares participants to pass the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) CCA exam. OCA has a 100% success rate in getting students to pass the national exams.

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