How To Get a Medical Coding Job From Home With No Experience

Updated July 31, 2023

Not only do medical coders play an important role in healthcare, but they also earn a generous salary and can secure employment with little-to-no experience required. Knowing the companies that hire medical coders with no experience makes it easier to find worthwhile opportunities. In this article, we define the role of a medical coder, explain how to become a medical coder and list companies that hire medical coders from home with no experience.

What do medical coders do?

A medical coder refers to a health information professional that translates a physician's reports into a universal medical alphanumeric code to describe the service a patient will receive. Using their knowledge of thousands of medical codes, they code medical records for billing and insurance purposes. They essentially work as a translator as part of a medical team, letting the medical field know what to charge for certain procedures, while also ensuring insurance companies can cover a patient's care. Here are some of the common duties of a medical coder:

Assign various medical codes to describe the service a patient will receive
Ensure the correct application of codes during the medical billing process
Ensure the consistent use of the right code so insurance companies can get billed properly
Ensure the grammatical correctness of various documents
Provide medical code training to physicians and the medical staff
Follow medical coding policies and guidelines
Collaborate with physicians and other healthcare workers to clarify information
Analyze documents and patient records and identify missing information
Assist supervisors in training or mentoring staff members

What are the benefits of working as a medical coder?

A medical coding career comes with many benefits for working professionals. Knowing the specific benefits this career provides can help you determine whether or not you want to pursue a career in this field. Here are some of the advantages that come from a career as a medical coder:

You can work from home. Unlike many other healthcare professions, working as a medical coder often comes with the option to work from home. Doing this job remotely helps you establish a greater work-life balance, helping improve your job satisfaction in the process.
You can make a difference. Medical coders play a significant role in the healthcare system. As a medical coder, you ensure the payment and reimbursement systems at healthcare systems work properly. Therefore, you can do your job knowing the impact of your particular profession.
It helps you improve your portable skills. You can use the skills you learn as a medical coder in a variety of healthcare facilities nationwide. Have transferable skills ensures your skills continue to get used no matter your position in the healthcare industry.
You can work in a variety of settings. As a medical coder, you have the opportunity to work in many different settings including hospitals, nursing homes and physician offices. Having different environments to choose from ensures you find the right fit for you and your productivity needs.

Related: What is Medical Coding?

How to become a medical coder

While you don't necessarily need experience to work as a medical coder, it's important to have enough knowledge to help you find success in this profession. Keep in mind that with or without experience, you need to have confidence in your abilities. Knowing the specific skills and education you need makes it easier to secure employment in this profession. Use these steps to pursue a career as a medical coder:

1. Meet the basic prerequisites

Earn a high school diploma or equivalent and pass a background check. Having a criminal history makes it harder for you to find employment both in this profession and elsewhere.

2. Receive medical coding training

Receive practical training to help you perform your duties as a medical coder successfully. While you don't need to meet any formal education requirements to pursue a career as a medical coder, most employers want candidates with a postsecondary certificate or an associate's degree at a minimum. Consider the type of education you want to receive and the benefits that each options provides:

Certificate program

A certificate program helps you get into the medical coding profession at a quicker rate and provides you with a strong foundation of medical coding knowledge. Certificate programs often focus on areas like treatment procedures, medical terminology and basic coding. You also get to learn about medical office software and billing procedures.

Associate degree

As a prospective medical coder, you can also pursue an associate's degree in an area like healthcare administration or health information management. While an associate program covers what you learned in a certificate program, it also provides you with a liberal arts education which allows you to improve your communication and critical thinking skills.

Though it takes longer to earn an associate's degree compared to a certificate, employers may prefer candidates with a professional degree. You can even transfer your associate degree toward a bachelor's degree program if you want to further your education later on.

Bachelor's degree

While it takes longer to pursue a bachelor's degree, this option offers a more complete path to a career in medical coding. Earning a bachelor's degree may also give you a competitive advantage when applying for medical coding jobs. In addition, it makes it easier for you to assume leadership roles in the future.

If you decide to pursue a bachelor's degree, consider studying healthcare administration or health information management. A bachelor's degree program teaches you not only the medical coding basics that you learn with a certificate program and associate program, but you also receive knowledge and training in broader healthcare management concepts. You also get to learn about other areas like health policy, legislative compliance and project management.

3. Earn your medical coding certification

Consider getting your medical coding certification to show your dedication to your profession. Getting certified also shows hiring managers that you have the skills needed to perform the job well. While you don't need to specialize, having a specialty may improve your job prospects. Some medical coding certifications to consider include the Certified Professional Coder, Certified Coding Associate and Certified Coding Specialist. You can also specialize in areas like anesthesia, family practice or ambulatory care.

4. Improve your medical coding skills

Before you apply for medical coding jobs, improve your skills in this profession. To become a medical coder, you need both hard and soft skills. Some key technical skills to learn include inpatient coding, customer billing, physiology, medical terminology and anatomy. Keep in mind you can learn these skills through a Medical Coding Certificate program. Some soft skills medical coders use include research, collaboration, communication and computer literacy skills.

Average salary

Senior medical coders make a national average salary of $45,003 per year. Keep in mind that your salary depends on your experience level, your geographic location and your employer.

List of companies that hire candidates with no experience

While it helps to have professional experience when applying for a job as a medical coder, many companies hire candidates with no experience at all. Make sure to review the qualifications on the job post before applying for a position as a medical coder to improve your chances of getting the job. Here are some companies that may hire medical coder candidates with little to no experience:

Maxim Healthcare Group: Maxim Healthcare Group provides medical coding, documentation and auditing services for its clients. It hires long- and short-term remote medical coders to provide these health information management services.
nThrive: As a healthcare information management company, nThrive hires a variety of work-from-home employees including medical coders, registrars, auditors and transcriptionists.
UnitedHealth Group: This healthcare company offers many work-from-home medical coding positions including coding consultants and coding educators.
Aviacode: Aviacode provides medical billing, auditing and coding services to a variety of healthcare professionals, facilities and surgical centers. It offers part- and full-time employment to certified coders nationwide.
Change Healthcare: This independent healthcare IT company provides a variety of services including network solutions and software. It hires everyone from medical coders to senior auditors.
The Coding Network: The Coding Network offers both quality assurance and medical coding services to healthcare providers. It hires work-from-home coders in various medical specialties.
Conifer Health Solutions: Conifer Health Solutions provides managed services to various healthcare facilities. It offers both quality assurance and medical coding positions as a health information services firm.
Humana: As a health insurance company, Humana offers work-from-home job opportunities for medical coders, coding educators and case managers. While it has remote positions, employees in these positions may have to travel to their Kentucky headquarters from time to time.
iMedX: This company provides both health information and clinical documentation services and hires remote medical coding specialists.
Medical Record Associates: This health information services organization offers work-from-home medical coding jobs to candidates nationwide.
Altegra Health: Altegra Health offers end-to-end reimbursement solutions, employing both on-site and work-from-home employees in the medical coding profession.

Frequently asked questions

What additional skills can help me get a medical coding job?

The ability to multitask is a key medical coding skill, as it's often necessary to manage multiple tasks at once while handling incoming requests and questions. Another important skill is the ability to adapt to new health care technologies.

How do I learn medical coding at home?

To learn medical coding at home, begin by learning more about the field. A good starting point is with Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) codes. Additionally, search online for materials and resources or enroll in an online coding and billing course.

What medical coding jobs command high salaries?

With some experience, you can become a coding manager and earn up to $71,688 per year. Coding managers supervise coding and billing specialists and help train them. You may also want to become a coding auditor and conduct quality assurance reviews for other coding specialists. Coding auditors earn a national average salary of $94,202 per year. For the most up-to-date salary information from Indeed, click on the links provided.