The top 14 trainees of a joint government-business training program for medical coders already have jobs waiting in the wings.
The earlier assurances came even as they are about to obtain their official certification as United States-certified medical coders. Once they pass the test, the training graduates get certification from the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC).
The training program is a partnership of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Healthcare Information Management Association of the Philippines (HIMAP), and TeleDevelopment Services (TDS).
The trainees had their graduation ceremony and mini job fair at the TeleDevelopment office in Ortigas Center, Pasig on April 13. The five-week medical coding training ran from March 5 to April 9.
Specifically, at least four local companies offering healthcare information services interviewed them with possible job offers. These include MiraMed, Conduent, Change Healthcare, and eData Services, while Microsourcing had an exhibit display.
Additionally, the participating companies also interviewed the remaining 14 of the top 28 training candidates.
Judy Bay Whisenhunt, COO of TeleDevelopment and member of the HIMAP board of trustee, encouraged the graduates to take advantage of these career opportunities. “Always take advantage of these opportunities,” Whisenhunt said. “Think about your goals in life.”
Whisenhunt added: “This will change your life. When you get there, tell us your success stories.”
HIMAP board member Evelyn Abat of MiraMed said the world has looked up to the Philippines as a destination of choice for healthcare information management.
Abat said graduates from medically allied courses have the skills and technical know-how to excel in the healthcare sector. Interestingly, among those who garnered the highest scores were not even nurses or from medically allied professions.
She said medical coding is important not just to diagnose diseases via alphanumeric codes, but to correct billing for reimbursement and insurance.
The DICT supports medical coding and healthcare information management in its advocacy for both industry and countryside development.
Moreover, the present government has even amended its key performance indicators (KPIs) regarding the number of information technology (IT) graduates.
Emmy Lou Delfin, DICT’s digitalPH program manager, revealed that the new KPI would now be the number of hired graduates.
Meanwhile, she encouraged the coding training graduates especially the non-nurses to consider their experience as advantage of a lifetime.
Even for those not in medically alllied professions, they have proven to turn it around to their advantage, Delfin said.
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About TDS Global Solutions (formerly TeleDevelopment Services Inc.)
TDS has established key partnerships with organizations to serve and stimulate growth in the IT-BPM industry. It has spent decades providing outsourcing solutions, management consulting services, talent assessments, executive recruitment, and vendor selection & management for crucial departments of call center operations. For more info, please email TDS at marketing@tdsgs.com or dial US number(1-888) 788-4441.
