The Education Solution

To teach, train and retrain millions of people, online education is the only scalable option.

It may be hard to believe in this era of social networking and telepresence video conferencing, but there is still a stigma attached to online education. Elite institutions do not want to dilute their brands by expanding the reach of their methodology using online channels.

This is a mistake, a humongous lost opportunity, and one that needs to be revisited because an astoundingly large number of people in America need retraining and career makeovers right now. In India, China, Brazil and Indonesia, the sheer size of the populations suggests that nothing other than online education can meet the needs of billions of people hungry for an opportunity to learn and secure a passport out of poverty.

The adoption of online education has happened largely in the for-profit education world. Dr. John Sperling is credited with leading the contemporary for-profit education movement in the U.S. He founded the University of Phoenix in 1976, which is now part of the publicly traded Apollo Group ( APOL - news - people ). It has a current enrollment of 420,700 undergraduates and 78,000 graduate students, largely catered to through online channels.

Since Dr. Sperling's pioneering experiment, however, many others have followed suit. There's one critical pattern that I see among education entrepreneurs who have noticed and believed in the online education opportunity: the complex maneuverings around getting accreditation for their ventures.

Brent Richardson, who was the CEO of the now-public Grand Canyon University, decided to buy a nonprofit with regional accreditation in 2004 to avoid the bottleneck. "If you were starting from scratch, I would think that it would take five to seven years if everything went right," recalls Richardson. This allowed him to focus on building the university, its curriculum and student body, rather than having to worry about accreditation. (To learn more about accreditation, you can also read my interview with American Public University CEO Wallace Boston. APEI teaches 50,000 students online.)

A private equity group, Endeavor Capital, put in $18 million, and Grand Canyon went on to strengthen its existing master's programs in education and health care, as well as add a business school. "The main area of effort, and where we thought we could get student growth, was online. Most of those students would be interested in master's degrees in education. When I got here we had three master's degree programs in education, and now we have 15. That was a big part of the build," explains Richardson.

Richardson was able to scale up the size of the student body through aggressive use of online offerings. "When I arrived we had 1,200 traditional students. Our goal was to get the number of students up to about 12,000 over a three-year period with the expectation that the majority of those students would take courses online. We were able to accomplish those goals."

Online is also a very profitable model because costs are mostly variable. In that aspect, it differs from traditional education. For Grand Canyon, a large portion of the program is paid for by employers. "Almost all of the hospitals we work with are on some sort of arrangement. We have about 1,500 students across 70 hospitals and in 99% of the cases, the hospitals are paying," says Richardson. (More on Grand Canyon in my interview with Brent Richardson.)

Grand Canyon went public last fall, and has close to 30,000 students. Brian Mueller, former President of the Apollo Group, is now CEO. Revenue jumped from $99 million in 2007 to $161 million in 2008, and is growing steadily this year.

Of the public universities, one of the biggest successes in embracing online delivery models is Colorado State University. About 1,000 students are currently enrolled in its online program. Hunt Lambert, the mastermind of the program, says that for 1,000 students he needs 54 faculty. "The average is slightly under 20 [students per faculty member]. If you went to 100,000 students, you would have 5,000 faculty," he says. Lambert explains another key pillar of the online equation:In this environment, there are a lot of people with advanced degrees and real-world qualifications who do not have jobs. Teaching could be a very good way to engage them, which could help rapidly scale the program. (More on CSU in my interview with Hunt Lambert.)

Lambert says there's another reason that supports his mission."If America chooses to remain a leader in the global economy, that leadership will come from our knowledge base, not from our manufacturing skills. It is highly likely that the U.S. needs to be graduating 40% of its high school students from college. That means we need to graduate twice as many people from college, across the country, as we do today. Colorado is at the low end of that scale. We have a highly educated workforce because they move here, but only 22% of our high school students ever graduate from college. If we take that from 22% to 40%, where are we going to put those 400,000 students? The financial reality is we are not going to build traditional campuses to accommodate that many students. They are going to have to do it online."

So would the rest of the world, making entrepreneurship in online education an urgent need of the hour.

Michael Clifford is one such entrepreneur. He has made a career out of buying and selling accredited schools and turning them around by positioning them to focus on specific niches. An early investor in Grand Canyon, Clifford says, "I spend a lot of time thinking about what degrees are going to be valuable two to three years from now and it just made common sense to me that health care was going to be bigger and bigger because of baby boomers. All the doctors I knew were complaining about not getting enough billers, receptionists and radiologists in their office."

Clifford adds, "There was nobody doing health care training online. We went out and looked at 40 schools. We made offers on nine schools and got serious with three. We ended up buying a very small school in Los Angeles that had about 100 students. We bought it because it had the right regulatory platform and a 20-year relationship with the Department of Education and the ACICS (the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools). I changed the name to LA College."

It took $10 million and two years, but now LA College is growing rapidly with courses for medical billing and others in the health care profession. "To be a medical billing clerk you do not go to Grand Canyon, you go to LA College. You get a 900-hour diploma and very quickly you can be making $45,000 a year because there are lots of jobs," Clifford explains. He emphasizes the need for quick turnaround vocational training to address the current crisis in employment. (More on Michael Clifford's ventures in my interview here.)

One of the greatest job and wealth creation opportunities of this coming decade will be in building online colleges and universities that address the global education needs. Entrepreneurs, listen up!

Sramana Mitra is a technology entrepreneur and strategy consultant in Silicon Valley. She has founded three companies and writes a business blog, Sramana Mitra on Strategy. She has a master's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her three books,Entrepreneur Journeys, Bootstrapping, Weapon Of Mass Reconstruction and Positioning: How To Test, Validate, and Bring Your Idea To Market are all available from Amazon. -source

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It seems like there are heavy investments being placed on education for medical billing and coding.

Medical Billing / Coding

What aspiring students can do to enter the field of Medical Billing/Coding

Though medical billing and coding take place in the background of a hospital setting, Their importance is not diminished. These skills will allow those who desire to enter the prosperous field of healthcare. In medical billing, the billing representative is responsible for putting together all debts and mailing invoices to collect upon those debts. Thus, it is the job of the medical billing representative to come into contact with insurance companies in order to what items and amounts need reimbursing on.

The medical coder is credited with the task of coding the information for billing purposes. Each procedure and diagnosis is given a code, then the coder uses computer software to assign patients to specific groups, which then determines the level of reimbursement depending on the coverage of the patient.

To enter into the training program, aspiring students must be aware of the regulations concerning the health insurance portability and accountability act. There are more than a few schools that offer certificates in medical billing and coding. The highest paid people in the medical billing / coding field make around $ 18.88 dollars an hour. -source

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The article above makes medical billing and coding tasks seem difficult. However, medical billing and coding comes with a substantial income.

TIHS, Virginia College grad gives commencement soliloquy

Tuskegee Institute High School graduate Acquentania “Tonya” Lumpkin was part of the first graduating class of Virginia College in Montgomery. Lumpkin’s area of expertise is in Medical Billing and Coding. The commencement took place Sunday, September 27 at Frazer United Methodist Church in Montgomery.

Lumpkin delivered the Inspirational Soliloquy to her fellow graduates and the general public.

She is the daughter of Deborah Ann Collis of Tuskegee, now in Montgomery and is married to Jerry Lumpkin. The couple has four children: Sandor, 22; Santoya, 19; Jerry Jarmal, 15; and D’Jarra Shonte’, 19.

Lumpkin is a graduate of TIHS Class 1988, a member of Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church and is currently employed with CVS Pharmacy as a pharmacy technician. She is contemplating starting nursing school in the Spring.
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This is good news! The medical billing and coding industry will surely have a place for graduates who excel.

Indian River County Adult Education offering Excel class in Sebastian

Here are some good opportunities for people looking for a career in Medical Billing and Coding. I hope you find an opportunity here.

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Home Health Aide Program

Are you looking to have a new career by the New Year? If you are interested in working as a home health aide, Adult Education has the training you need. We will offer a fast-paced class from Nov. 30-Dec. 18; students will attend class MondayFriday from 8:15 a.m.-3:45 p.m. The cost for this 100-hour class is $382 and students are encouraged to register now as space is limited.

Medical Billing and Collections Program

Students will learn the skills necessary to become successful in medical billing and collections these two areas of the medical field. If you like the medical field and are looking for a position in an up-and-coming area, this program may be just what you have been seeking. Students will attend class Monday through Thursday from 8:15 a.m.-4 p.m. Class begins Jan. 7 and runs through Feb. 11, the cost is $453 and payment plans are available to those who register early. Because of the fast-paced nature of this class, students must be committed to spending much time and effort on this program.

Excel Class in Sebastian

Do you need training in Excel? If you answered yes, please join us for the next scheduled Excel class. Class runs from Oct. 21-Nov. 4. Students will attend class on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5-8 p.m. The cost for this class is $65; call 564-4970 if you have any questions or would like to register.

One Day Computer Greeting Card Workshop

We will be offering a computer greeting gard workshop from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 30. If you want to add a personal touch to your holiday season for only $32, this is the class for you. Visit our office call 564-4970 to register.

Consult a full course schedule for times, dates and course fees. The course schedule is available at the office, at area libraries, and on the web at (www.indianriverschools.org). Gift certificates are available. Adult Education, a division of the Indian River County School District, is at 1426 19th St., downtown Vero Beach. We offer GED preparation classes free of charge to any community member who would like to attend. Phone 564-4970 for more information.

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Health Care Hiring Locates Hospitals by Medicare Number

Seattle, WA. Health Care Hiring is not just for job seekers looking for health care jobs -- in fact, anyone seeking medical care can use the latest, revised edition of Health Care Hiring hospital directory search. Hospitals, clinics and medical centers may be located by name, city or Medicare provider number.

The healthcarehiring.com hospital directory search, featuring over 6,000 hospitals, has been available online since 2001, and it was recently upgraded as part of a site-wide redesign and renovation that includes over 5 million listings of health care providers in more than 200 specialties, medical facilities, schools and employment resources nationwide. Hospital search results include contact information, number of beds, Medicare provider number and a map of the hospital location. Every day, thousands of job seekers, patients, health care professionals, researchers, businesses, employers, recruiters, students and member of the public visit healthcarehiring.

Hospitals vary a great deal in function, specialty and size. There are geriatric hospitals, children's hospitals, and trauma centers, as well as specialized facilities. Hospitals may be a simple clinic located in a single building, or a huge complex medical center in a campus of buildings. Smaller health treatment centers are often called clinics, and they may be managed by a non-profit institution, a government agency, by a private company. Outpatient clinics are usually small health centers that treat ambulatory patients or clients in a community health care environment, while the more critically ill are treated in a hospital or medical center as inpatients.

A typical search of the Health Care Hiring hospital directory may be by a medical billing specialist who is processing Medicare claims. She will need to locate hospitals and other provider contact information to complete requirements of the Medicare processing. The search by Medicare provider number is a perfect solution to the daily needs of medical billing and coding staff, as well as medical transcriptionists and administrative personnel.

About Health Care Hiring:

Health Care Hiring is a comprehensive career and employment website for the health care sector, offering job seekers access to millions of health care jobs across the U.S. Employers and recruiters may search resumes free and post jobs ($30 for 30 days) across a nationwide job network on thousands of websites that include exposure on Jobamatic, Linkedin, MySpace, CNet, ZDNet and Fox News. Health Care Hiring also includes contact information for 5.5 million health care providers nationwide, where job seekers may search for jobs close to home. The staff of Health Care Hiring believe that their efforts can help play a small part in the larger effort to improve, revitalize and redesign the delivery of health care to all Americans. -source

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This is good news for those who was hit by the recession. Medical billing and coding schools have been growing to help train practitioners in the industry.