When I review a product, I try to be extremely honest, and I don't back products that I've not used or that I don't fully believe in. I trained in medical coding through a seminar held in Alpharetta Georgia in 2003. However, in coming on w/ Meditec as an instructor/mentor, I felt that I wanted to go through the coding/billing program in order to better support it for our students.

I'll be honest, when I heard about Alpha II coding software, I figured it was an expensive and complicated program and I'm just not that great at picking up complicated software programs. I once did a trial download of a billing software and after an hour still couldn't figure out how to work the darn thing. I'm just not adept at stuff like that. Additionally, I am not the type to purchase expensive software. I'm a pretty "thrifty" person.

So, yes, I know that Meditec was offering Alpha II but sort of avoided the idea of working w/ the software. However, I'm about 1/2 way through our medical coding program and LOVING it. It's fun, and the program is so easy to understand. However, I keep thinking- there MUST be a faster and easier way to code than to look EVERY single code up in the these big books. Yes, the particular books our program uses ARE AWESOME and DOES make it much easier, but still, I admit it, I like short cuts.

I decided to bite the bullet and demo Alpha II coding software. I figured that I'd probably get extremely frustrated, and would not be able to figure it out in a million years. I could not have been more WRONG! Let me explain my demo process.

I did a virtual demo online w/ Alpha II. In the first two minutes, I understand what functions and tabs I needed to use to generate codes. Within 10 minutes, I was generating ACCURATELY CPT and ICD 9 codes and was getting the E/M levels correct. The software was extremely user friendly. It's not complicated at all.

Is it worth $1295? After my demo, I was HOOKED!! If I went into a doctor's office to code, I would highly highly highly push the issue of the practice going w/ Alpha II.

Do I believe if I were a brand new medical coding student would this software be a good buy for me? I would emphatically say YES! Mind you, I am a FRUGAL person. I like to SAVE money. Whereas I believe that ALL medical coding students NEED to learn how to use the code books (you just can't use Alpha II on AHIMA's CCA exam : ), I believe that a wonderful way to work through the medical coding program would be to do 1/2 the exercises manually w/ the codebooks and the other 1/2 with Alpha II. Why? Several reasons- Alpha II is FAST. You can find your codes in the blink of an eye. Alph II is also ACCURATE. Plus, the experience of learning "coding software" makes sense to me. Say, a medical coding students gets a job in a doctor's office and they don't use software. You could do one of two things... bring your laptop to work w/ you and use your own Alpha II to make your life a LOT easier or you could talk the doctor into buying a copy of the software for the office. Secondly, say you get a job in a doctor's office and he uses a "coding software." Well, you can at least say "I've had medical coding software experience using Alpha II." If you plan to solicit accounts and work at home as a medical coder, then you NEED Alpha II. You just absolutely do.


If I were to do medical coding professionally, I would 100% w/o any doubt at all HAVE a copy of Alpha II and would know how to use it. It's sort of like how I feel about Stedman's Spellchecker for medical transcription. I just would not attempt to type medical reports w/o it. Yes, I know how to spell and I'm pretty good at it. However, some products are simply WORTH the price.

I wanted to bring up one other quick point here. Meditec's prices for our courses are extremely competitive on the low end. That means that one would be hard pressed to find training equal in quality with what we offer at a more affordable price. Additionally, we know there is a recession going on, and we have the most LENIENT payment options ever. Therefore, I truly feel that adding the Alpha II Coding software to your medical coding enrollment is a SMART and WISE choice. Considering that with our programs (which are usually on special w/ hundreds of dollars discounted off our already extremely competive pricing) you are already saving much money over what many other coding courses cost, adding Alpha II to your enrollment is an exceptional idea. Again, I would not recommend this had I not seen the software in action and how SIMPLE it makes medical coding.

Now, I would not recommend doing all of our coding course exercises using Alpha II. You just have to get familiar w/ coding from the reference books. However, I would HIGHLY recommend doing 1/2 the exercises manually and 1/2 w/ Alpha II or even doing all the exercises manually and then redoing them a second time w/ Alpha II.

So, if you are considering learning medical coding and billing- Meditec is the way to go and adding Alpha II coding software is an extremely wise decision.

For more information about Alpha II, please follow this link: http://www.meditec.com/coding-software.html .


MT Mentor