Should Medical Coding Online Students Buy Computers on Craigslist?

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Decided to begin a new career by taking medical coding online studies through the Allen School? That means you’re going to need a good computer to access the course materials and other activities involved in medical coding online studies.  You may be considering buying a second hand computer as away to save some money.  Not a bad idea.  Many people turn to online classified website, www.Craigslist.com and www.offerup.com for the wealth of sellers and options. While most of the millions of Craigslist users never have a bad go of it, there are some bad actors that lurk on those pages.  Consider the case of this one fellow who ran across a known filer of frivolous lawsuits.  The seller simply wanted to sell a used computer printer for $40, and after years of legal wrangling, wound up having to pay the scammer a $30,000 judgment. But don’t let this story scare you away.  Craigslist and OfferUp can be a great place to find a good desktop or laptop computer for far less than it would cost to purchase one new.  But make sure to follow these suggestions for being careful buying from private sellers who aren’t obligated like a commercial seller to ensure you’re treated fairly.
  1. If it seems to good to be true, RUN!  Nobody is ever going to sell you a $3000 laptop for $200.  EVER! Ridiculously low asking prices are often indicative of stolen goods.
  2. Avoid buying from Craigslist sellers far from where you live.  Better to find someone near you so that you can examine the items in person before handing over the cash.
  3. Meet sellers in well-trafficked public places like a coffee shop, or a public library or other public building.  That way you lessen the risk of being scammed and you have a place to test the item before concluding the transaction.
  4. Never send anyone money via wire or Paypal or any conveyance.  Always do business with Craigslist sellers in person or don’t do it at all.
Be sure to contact the Allen School today to find out more!

Resurrect Your Career – Take CNA Training in Phoenix

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So you’re unhappy with your current career in a field you hate, with little prospect for advancement.  Perhaps you’re feeling like you’re too old to start something new and that your career prospects are all but dead.  Well, we have news for you.  Just like the Phoenix of Greek mythology you can experience career rebirth at any age.

Take CNA training in Phoenix and watch your career catch fire and take flight!

The Phoenix myth was the ancient Greeks’ way of explaining the rising and setting of the sun each day.  The myth tells of a bird of fire that is cyclically regenerated or reborn, obtaining new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor.  Each night as the sun sets, the Phoenix dies.  Every ensuing morning, the Phoenix is reborn at sunrise, rising high into the sky from the ashes it left the night before. If you’re seeking career advancement in a robust and growing industry, with great earning and advancement potential, and you live in Arizona, you can take CNA training in Phoenix (Arizona) with the Allen School.  Learning to be a certified nursing assistant is rewarding both financially and emotionally as you are compensated for helping people return to good health.  CNAs are in great demand in all major American markets and the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the field of healthcare (which includes the job of certified nursing assistant) is projected to remain so. So don’t fret if it feels like your career prospects burned up a long time ago, leaving you in a dead end retail or service industry gig.  Rise from the ashes like the mythical Phoenix and take CNA training at Allen Schools Phoenix, Arizona campus and your career will blaze with the light of a white hot sun!

Industries Cutting Most Jobs List DOESN’T Include Medical Fields

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no cutting to nursing assistant certificationHere’s some data that reveals just how stable the medical career field is compared to the rest in an already volatile economic environment. When one thinks of fields where growth is likely to remain strong, the technology field immediately comes to mind.  After all, computers and technology – hardware and software – are utilized by nearly all other industries.  So it would make sense to assume that tech companies wouldn’t make 24/7 Wall Street’s list of “Companies Cutting the Most Jobs”. The top three companies listed are all tech firms: Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, and Cisco Systems.  Also on the list representing tech is Sprint and Intel. Noticeably absent from the list were companies in the healthcare field.  This is because healthcare continues to be one of the top most stable career fields according to Labor Department statistics.  Anecdotal evidence also supports this strength.  After all, companies can go an extra year or two between upgrading hardware and software.  But health concerns are always a priority. If you needed yet another reason to get off the fence and enroll in nursing assistant certification courses with the Allen School, this data supports what we’ve been saying for a long time.  Healthcare careers are where its at!

Taking the Leap into a Healthcare Career Path

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A career in healthcare offers many benefits beyond achieving the job of your dreams. Many different roles in a healthcare setting allow you to help others, caring for their physical and emotional needs, and making a difference in people’s lives. From newborns to senior citizens, you can choose a specialty and begin helping people to be healthier and ultimately happier. This year offers a wealth of new opportunities to chase your dreams by taking a leap into a new and exciting career path.

Benefits of a Career Path in Healthcare

online health sciences program in New YorkAt The Allen School of Health Sciences, we understand how disappointing it can be when you haven’t yet made it to your ideal career path. Like anything worth having, it can take time to land your ideal career. Our programs for nursing assistant, medical assistant, and medical coding and billing career paths are designed to put you on the fast track to your new and exciting career in the healthcare field. We have assisted many students in broadening their horizons and earning jobs in various health related fields like medical assistants, nursing assistants, and medical insurance billing and coding professionals. A career in healthcare offers many benefits, beginning even as early on as during your education. Some key benefits include:
  • Excellent compensation packages – You will enjoy a handsome salary with some of the best benefits around.
  • It’s great to feel needed – As a medical professional, your skills and talents will allow you to comfort patients and make their days better. This is a reward beyond what money can buy.
  • Healthcare jobs are in demand – You may find an easier time cracking into the healthcare field than many other fields that are currently inundated with applicants.
  • Exceptional cross-training and growth opportunities – Working in the medical field, especially as you first begin the process, will allow you to branch out and find many specialties that fit your talents and interests as well as your experience.

Fast Track to New Opportunities

training for medical billing and coding Phoenix AZThe Allen School makes it easy to enroll in one of the greatest adventures of your life. Our expert faculty eagerly awaits the opportunity to help put your new career path in motion with years of real-world experience in the medical field. We offer three accredited medical programs with thorough training designed to get you into the job you want without delay. Now is the time to make a decision that can affect your happiness and job security for the rest of your life. Choose to enroll in one of The Allen School’s programs to begin a career in the healthcare field. Get in touch with us to start working toward your dream healthcare job today.

Medical Assistant Training for Millennials at Allen School

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In an article published in Fortune magazine, David Cruickshank, global chairman of consulting firm Deloitte was quoted as saying, “While pay is important, it’s clear that millennials won’t stay with companies for money alone”. By all accounts, the millennial generation worker – born between 1982 and 2004 – is characterized by a pronounced focus on how their career function aligns with their personal values. In short, millennials favor working in roles that are not simply just a means to an end (a paycheck for example). Rather, they place a very high value on how well the work they’re engaged in comports with their personal outlook on life.

Again, from the Fortune article quoting Cruickshank, “Personal values have the greatest influence on millennials’ decision-making on the job,” noting that 61% of “senior millennials”—those with higher-ranking job titles—have chosen not to undertake a task at work because it conflicted with their values. It is clear that the positions sought by millennial workers must hold some allure beyond simply title and salary levels. The younger generation wishes to find deeper meaning within the time they invest in their careers; much more so than older generations of workers like Gen X and the Baby Boomers.

It is for this reason that millennials seem naturally predisposed to taking medical assistant training courses with the Allen School. After all, there is a great deal of personal satisfaction that comes with both completing medical assistant training courses and working in the field of medicine, helping people to gain and retain good health. Working alongside physicians in a clinical setting, there is an enormous opportunity for gratification in one’s career, seeing firsthand how the efforts put forth by a medical assistant translate into positive results for the patients they serve. Helping parents provide comfort to sick children; helping the elderly maintain a more healthy quality of life; and helping people of all ages to get well and back to their day-to-day activities are all examples of how a medical assistant provides tangible, positive benefits to the people they serve and interact with on the job every single day.

If you’re a millennial-age individual with a penchant for public health and a desire to effectuate positive change in your community, you should investigate the options for medical assistant training courses with the Allen School. To borrow a line from US Armed Services marketing, a medical assistant is the toughest job you’ll ever love. Inquire today to learn more about a career path leading towards a mentally, spiritually, and yes, financially rewarding career in the healthcare field.

Article updated July 2024

5 Add-Ons for Online Medical Billing Students Using New Windows 10

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free software for online medical billing studentsFor those studying online medical billing with the Allen School, the recent release of Windows 10, the newest operating system out of Redmond, WA represents the opportunity to have the latest and greatest suite of tools for highly effective online study.   We’ve been covering the run up to the release of Windows 10 since having a solid computer workstation is essential to learning online.  Now that Windows 10 has been made publicly available and many of our student/readers have doubtlessly upgraded, we’d like to offer the following five add-on software tools available to those using Windows 10. 1)  LibreOffice Windows 10 doesn’t come with any decent word processing applications included.  There are several free office suites available out there including mobile versions of Microsoft Office.  But these aren’t well-suited for desktop use.  Luckily, LibreOffice is a free suite of office tools that are almost exactly the same in terms of functionality as MS Office, without the big price tag.  Check it out here. 2)  VLC Windows 10 doesn’t include the Windows Media Player app that came with earlier operating systems.  But never fear.  You can get a very capable media player software package for free from VLC and get back to watching DVDs in between marathon study sessions.  Download for free at this link. 3)  GIMP Windows 10 does have a photo editing app included but it is not as robust in its features as GIMP which is a full-featured alternative to Photoshop (which itself costs hundreds of dollars).  Download GIMP for free here. 4)  Chrome Yes, Windows 10 comes with a long-awaited replacement for the Internet Explorer browser which has been outclassed lately by competing browsers like Firefox and Chrome.  The new Edge browser from Microsoft is included in the Windows 10 download.  But, we’re still partial to Google’s Chrome browser which (according to this blogger’s anecdotal testing) still seems to be a faster page-loading, web-surfing tool.  This is especially important to those studying online medical billing.  To download Chrome, visit here. 5)  Spotify Who doesn’t fancy a little music to study by?  Windows 10 comes with the Groove music app which works quite well, but it also comes with a $9.99 monthly fee to use.  So if you fancy a bit of music without the monthly billing, try Spotify which you can download for free here.

Keeping Certified Nursing Assistants Busy – One Coronary at a Time

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DoubleDown Fire - Creating Jobs for Certified Nursing Assistants Everywhere!Next in our long list of “Frankenfoods” that contribute to the ongoing epidemic of obesity and related co-morbidities such as hypertension, high blood pressure, heart disease and others is brought to you by KFC.  Yes, KFC is doing its part better than most grease merchants this year.  Their Double Down sandwich (which we’ve reported on regularly) and even the recent variation on the heart-stopping theme – the Double Down Dog (blogged about here) is no match for the latest atrocity: the Fire Double Down Maxx! Its as though KFC is working to single-handedly ensure that there will be plenty of work for those studying to become certified nursing assistants with the Allen School.  The Fire Double Down Maxx is two fried, boneless chicken breasts coated in a flaming red, hot-sauce infused batter, acting as buns for what is essentially a hot sauce sandwich with a slice of processed American cheese and a slice of tomato (ostensibly for health reasons).  This sandwich alone will surely send scores of Americans running to the ER or the offices of their family practitioner with a host of maladies spanning from indigestion to acid reflux to heart palpitations and who knows what else. Clearly, we have a lot of fun here at the Allen School blog, lampooning the horrific eating habits of the American public and the merchants of saturated fat who make a tidy profit “giving the people what they want”.   But the broader point is simply that these eating habits truly do help ensure there will be no shortage of jobs for people in healthcare roles such as certified nursing assistants.  This is why it is a good idea to pursue a career as a certified nursing assistant with the Allen School.

9 Reasons to Change Careers and Become a Certified Nurse Assistant

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Entrepreneur magazine recently published an article listing 9 reasons to change your career.  We’ve put a little spin on it to help persuade those who may be considering changing their careers and pursuing a new life as a certified nurse assistant.
  1. You didn’t chose your current career.  Maybe your family had a job for you right out of high school.  Maybe it was in a field you have no passion for.  Don’t settle for a lifetime of work in a field you cannot stand.  Become a certified nurse assistant today!
  2. The economy hit your field hard.  That’s unfortunate.  However, the medical industry and jobs like certified nurse assistant are consistently listed among those most resistant to economic fluctuation and poised for growth over the next decade.
  3. You’ve developed an interest in an emerging industry.  Health care is always an emerging industry with scientific breakthroughs happening all the time.  Plus, it is a field poised for continued growth as the American population ages.
  4. You hit a ceiling. If you’ve come as far up the ladder as you can in a dead end field, there’s plenty of room for growth among the ranks of certified nurse assistants in hospitals and doctors’ offices across the USA.
  5. You need significantly more money.  Ear far more as a certified nurse assistant than you would in a retail or service industry job.
  6. Your talents don’t match your field.  Certified nurse assistants are known to be people with great empathy, compassion and a drive to help heal the sick.  If those skills aren’t valued in your current role, perhaps you should consider a change.
  7. You have a major change in perspective.  Perhaps it isn’t financial or material rewards that drive your passion to serve.  You will have a hard time finding a job more personally rewarding than being a certified nursing assistant.
  8. The challenge is gone.  You’re not feeling motivated or challenged in your current gig?  Certified nursing assistants’ lives on the job are anything but boring.  The challenge of bringing people back to health is an ongoing and limitless one.
  9. You’re burnt out.  It happens.  If you feel like a change is in order, consider the role of certified nurse assistant and explore if it may be the new career you’ve been seeking!

Today! Free Windows 10 Upgrade for Medical Billing Online Students

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Free Windows update for Medical Billing Online StudentsAs we’ve been posting about over the last year or so, people whose computers currently run the widely hated older Windows operating systems will be provided a free update starting today.  The update will replace Windows 8 with Microsoft’s latest and greatest, Windows 10 operating system.  Windows 10 is reported to correct all the things users hated about Windows 8 including the return of the “start button” among other features. If history is any guide, Windows 10 should be a hit.  It seems like every other operating system release is widely embraced.  People loved Windows XP but hated Windows Vista which replaced XP.  They loved Windows 7 (which replaced the reviled Vista) but then hated Windows 8.  Microsoft, perhaps wishing to put more distance between Windows 8 and its new release, skipped the number 9 and went directly to Windows 10. Along with Windows 10, Microsoft is releasing a new web browser as well.  Its operating name had been Project Spartan, but it is being released publicly as Microsoft Edge.  It is replacing the long running Internet Explorer which, although in use by more computers than any other browser, is largely recognized as an inferior offering (when compared against the much better Firefox and Google Chrome browsers). All of this is relevant to those studying medical billing online with the Allen School.  After all, studying medical billing online means that one’s classroom is actually one’s computer.  And if you’ve recently purchased a new machine that came pre-loaded with Windows 8 (as this blogger has) you’re probably very anxious to get rid of it.  Starting today, you’re eligible to download Windows 10 for free, no strings attached.  In fact, chances are, your computer has already downloaded it as part of Microsoft’s regular system updates.  Here’s an article from Fortune with the details.  Happy computing online students!

4 Foods to Boost Effective Study for Medical Billing Classes Online

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brain
So, you need to make a shake comprised of blueberries, sea bass, kale, and olive oil and guzzle it down.  Just kidding.  But if you’re studying medical billing classes online, you may wish to consider the following information.

Want to operate at peak mental efficiency?  Want to optimize your study time, even if your hectic life prevents you from studying medical billing classes online at normal hours?  Well, the mind is just like any other high-performance engine.  What you put into it by way of fuel has a large influence on the output you get from it.

Prevention magazine says the four best foods for your brain are:
  1. Fatty Fish
  2. Green leafy vegetables
  3. Olive Oil
  4. Blueberries
The Omega-3 fatty acids in high quantities in the fish are great for memory and optimal brain function.  The Vitamin K found in kale and other green leafy vegetables is known to improve cognitive ability.  The antioxidant effects of olive oil help improve learning and memory while potentially keeping Alzheimer’s disease at bay.  The anthocyanins found in blueberries are known to cross the blood-brain barrier, protecting the brain and boosting communication between brain neurons. A health study of 16,000 women over the age of 70 performed by the Harvard Nurses’ Association found that women who consumed 2 or more half-cup servings of blueberries or strawberries each week were mentally sharper than those who didn’t.

So don’t burn your brain out eating junk food while working to earn your degree via medical billing classes online with the Allen School of Health Sciences.  Have a nice piece of fish atop a bed of sauteed escarole for supper and a big bowl of blueberries and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert and then study like a champ!

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