Care + Career

Since the pandemic, there's been an increased trend to stack credentials. One program has seen a 14-fold increase since early March alone. The ability to earn a credential in a few short months and improve hiring potential is drawing people toward this trend as the job market becomes increasingly unstable. In the healthcare industry, one certification that can be a beneficial skill builder and adds a lot of value when combined with other credentials is the Certified Electronic Health Records Specialist (CEHRS).

With an ever-evolving healthcare system, certified medical billing and coding professionals have to stay on top of changing codes, practices, and regulations. Telehealth Services Coding, CPT Evaluation and Management Code and Guideline Changes for 2021, and Opioid Use Disorder Coding provide you with three opportunities to earn continuing education credits, showing your commitment to your healthcare career and patient care.

Phlebotomy technicians must have foundational knowledge and skills, sometimes called hard skills, to draw blood and perform related tasks. As an important member of the care team, it's also essential that professionals in this role exhibit strong soft skills. In our recent survey of employers in the 2020 Industry Outlook, the most important soft skills for phlebotomy technicians include professionalism, dependability, and verbal communication.

Whether you’re just entering the work force or you’re hunting for a new job, standing out at each stage of the journey is key for increasing your chances of success. So, how do you set yourself apart among a stack of resumes? Show that your training and experience is backed by the most important essential soft skills for the role.

As healthcare evolves, we're always working to gain insights to help future and current frontline healthcare workers like EKG technicians access a better future. We recently surveyed hundreds of healthcare employers in search of information to help you on your path to success as an aspiring or current EKG technician. We shared a summary of our findings in the 2020 Industry Outlook, now available for download as a PDF. Download your copy today from this year's edition of access^TM: an allied health industry journal.

Why is a healthy lifestyle so important for older adults?

Today, many people are living longer lives, but often with chronic diseases that can truly impact the quality of those extra years. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension), arthritis, and osteoporosis are among the most common health concerns for seniors but getting a diagnosis can provided much-needed motivation to take action.

Working in the frontlines of healthcare, patient care technicians (CPCT/A) assist nurses and other medical professionals. They keep close tabs on patients, and help them with basic needs, perform safety checks, check their vitals, and more.

Medical assistants are critical to healthcare teams. The ever-evolving health care landscape has expanded the role of this profession, which is why training and certification is so important.

So, what's happening right now? We surveyed 157 medical assistant employers to find out. Here are three key stats we discovered. (For more, download the 2021 Industry Outlook from the latest edition of access^TM.)

Continuing Education (CE) can feel like exercise. You feel better once it's done, but it's difficult to take the initiative to start.

We get it. That's why our CE credits, which are required to maintain certification status and required in certain states to maintain employment, are:

• Diverse to match your needs/interests
• Developed by experts who are in the field and understand what it takes to succeed
• Are succinct yet impactful, so you can get the most benefit from your time investment

At NHA, we always strive to provide information to support frontline healthcare workers like billing & coding specialists on their path to success, which is why we recently surveyed hundreds of healthcare employers to discover insights to help lead us into 2020 and beyond. We shared a summary of our findings in the 2020 Industry Outlook, available as a PDF download (below) in this year's edition of access^TM: an allied health industry journal.