An interview with Stephanie Moore who is earning her Associates of Science degree in Medical Billing and Coding from Anthem College Online.

Q:  How long is the program?

It’s an Associates of Science degree and it takes 20 months.

Q:  What is your current career?

Medical Assistant

Q:  Describe a typical day in your current career?

I answer phones for a clinic I work for. I spend time interacting with patients as far as their health goes. Check with them after their medic visits if they have questions about their labs any refills they need. There are guidelines for certain blood work we can go over with them if we are knowledgeable about it.

Q:  How did your training help you get into this career?

I took the training for medical assisting at Nevada Career Institute. I had family pass away, and it really encouraged me to look into why people die from diseases. When I was 19 I went to school and it was great, I loved it. It took 8 months and you get a diploma.

To get into the career as a medical assistant you need either a diploma or certificate.

Q:  Why did you decide to go back to school for medical billing and coding?

My overall goal is to do a Masters in healthcare management, but you have to go through each step first.

Q:  How long have you been at Anthem, and what have been your favorite classes and why were they your favorite?

So far more than 6 months. I started in summer, August. My favorite class so far was Ecology. I really enjoyed it, just learning about the ecological system and how we affect it and it affects us with the atmosphere, you know. Just learning about that was really cool.

Q:  Is there something you take from this program that you use in your everyday job tasks as a Medical Assistant?

Yes, actually I’m taking another class, the billing and coding class. It’s more like learning the codes, and I don’t work with that stuff yet, but  I like to go and I’ll help the other people at my office and I learn, so I’ll see a code I learned and I’ll be like “oh yea I remember that code.”

Q:  How much will it cost for you to complete the program at Anthem?

I want to say about $20,000.

Q:  Did you receive any financial aid or scholarships?  Which ones?  Were these easy to obtain?

Yes, I got financial aid and a grant. The school helps you get that, it’s really easy because I don’t have to pay anything right now. That makes it more motivational right now. Makes it better, I will go with them until I get my Masters if they help me do it that way each time.

Q:  Do you go to school on a full-time or part-time basis?

Full-time.  It’s everyday, well its one class a month.

Q:  Did you consider other programs?

No, I think I liked them right off.

Q:  Why did you choose Anthem?

Once we got to talking and I asked them right off about financial aid, and they told me I don’t pay anything upfront that’s what I liked.

Q:  What other programs did you consider?  Why did you choose the one that you did?

When I talked to the agent and told them I like health management, and that’s what I want to do, they told me I had to do this first. It’s like a foundation for me.

Q:  Would you recommend Anthem College online to someone else? Why?

Oh yes, for sure. It’s great. They make it easy, the classes online are not pressured. I went to another online school before and they pressured you all the time to be online and turn stuff in right away. I didn’t like that. Here they really do try to make an effort.

They give you tons and tons of books. I don’t like the online books but they ship the books to me, if you have enough financial aid the books could also be taken care of.

Q:  What was the most difficult part of the program for you?

Not really anything with the school, just learning different things and trying to grasp it, like math. I had a difficult class, so it was a challenging.

Q:  About how many other students were in your classes?

It varies some not a lot, like 15.

Q:  How was the experience of online versus a classroom setting?

It’s better you can go on at any time to check in talk back and forth with whoever is online, versus in a classroom setting you have to check in at a certain time, I cant do that. My schedule doesn’t allow it.

Q:  Did you feel that you were able to learn as well as you would have in the classroom setting?

For me, yes I would say so.

Q:  Any other advice for someone considering a similar career?

I would encourage everyone to start off as a medical assistant or nurse to open more opportunities, or to climb a ladder to achieve your goals. They are a good school and make it easy for you to accomplish those goals.

View a list of all online medical billing and coding programs.