High Demand Medical Careers

I live in Central Florida and I finally made a decision to go back to school. I want to work in the medical field but I'm not sure which career to go into. Valencia Community College offers alot of AS degree programs that you can complete within 2 yrs. The programs I'm considering are Medical Billing and Coding and Medical Assistant.

I've been reseaching stuff online like crazy about these 2 careers and I'm still torn. I have read that Medical Billers and Coders make more then a Medical Assistant, but its much harder to find a job as a medical biller and coder because everyone wants at least 2 yrs experience. The AS program at this community college I'm looking into offers an Intership with both programs, does this help my chances of finding a job after I graduate? Will this count as "work" experience? I am scared of going to school for 2 years and beign jobless it will feel like a waste of time.

On the other hand, I have read that Medical Assistants are in high demand so it seems like it would be easier to find a job after I graduate due to the demand of jobs. The only thing is they don't make as much as Medical Billers and Coders. If anyone could answer this question it would be greatly appreciated! If Medical Assistants are in demand will the pay rate of this job increase over the years? Sorry for all the questions I'm just trying to figure out what to do with my life and I don't want to waste my time and money! Thanks so much!

Michelle in Orlando, Florida said: I live in Central Florida and I finally made a decision to go back to school. I want to work in the medical field but I'm not sure which career to go into. Valencia Community College offers alot of AS degree programs that you can complete within 2 yrs. The programs I'm considering are Medical Billing and Coding and Medical Assistant.

I've been reseaching stuff online like crazy about these 2 careers and I'm still torn. I have read that Medical Billers and Coders make more then a Medical Assistant, but its much harder to find a job as a medical biller and coder because everyone wants at least 2 yrs experience. The AS program at this community college I'm looking into offers an Intership with both programs, does this help my chances of finding a job after I graduate? Will this count as "work" experience? I am scared of going to school for 2 years and beign jobless it will feel like a waste of time.

On the other hand, I have read that Medical Assistants are in high demand so it seems like it would be easier to find a job after I graduate due to the demand of jobs. The only thing is they don't make as much as Medical Billers and Coders. If anyone could answer this question it would be greatly appreciated! If Medical Assistants are in demand will the pay rate of this job increase over the years? Sorry for all the questions I'm just trying to figure out what to do with my life and I don't want to waste my time and money! Thanks so much!

It's harder to enter the Billing and Coding field due to fewer openings.

I just started school to become an MA. Thankfully mine is only for nine months, but it's fulltime. The MIBs (Medical Billers) are in class with the MAs, learning the same things, except one day a week when we split up and us MAs learn the clinical things and the MIBs learn the coding. There are 20 students (all female). 14 are studing to become Billers and only 6 want to become a CMA! I'm thinking my job outlook should be pretty good when I graduate in June.

Billers do make a little more money. I think what you need to do is decide if you'd rather spend most of your time sitting at a desk or up moving around and dealing with people. As an MA you'll be giving injections, drawing blood, doing urinalysis, etc. Is that something you'd like? Or would you rather not? That should be what helps you decide which to take.

At the doctor's office an MA is usually the one who calls you back and takes your history, weighs and measures you, takes all the vitals and tells you the doctor will be in shortly...is that something you'd like to do?

Is hard to get into Valencia college's DMS program?