Graduate: Andrea Goodrich
Program: Health Claims Specialist
Campus: Seacoast/Manchester, NH
“The school atmosphere was comfortable and inviting, and the staff at Seacoast was very encouraging.”
“After working in series of dead-end jobs, I knew I needed a career where I could earn more pay and have opportunities to move up,” said Andrea Goodrich. “When I got laid off from my temp job, I looked online and started researching better careers that would offer me stability,” Andrea remembers. When she read about medical billing and coding, she had found what she was looking for. “Even if the economy is bad, people with training in the medical field will always be needed.”
Andrea discovered Seacoast Career Schools, and decided to enroll in the Health Claims Specialist program at the Manchester, NH campus. “It felt great to know that I was working toward a new career, and it was nice to be working with other people who had the same goal,” Andrea says of her classmates. “The school atmosphere was comfortable and inviting, and the staff at Seacoast was very encouraging,” Andrea recalls.
Toward the end of her training, Andrea was assigned to an externship at Silverman & Associates, a mental health practice. She was working in an office alongside psychologists, therapists, and social workers. The practice was so happy with her work that they offered her a full-time position, and she accepted.
Andrea completed her program at Seacoast in just nine months and graduated with a full-time job in her new field. Andrea described her job, “When I began, the practice did not even have a billing department—they used a separate billing agency. Once they hired me, I had to create the billing department from the ground up. I ran the whole department, and handled the billing for five doctors,” Andrea explained. “This was a big change from having a temp job!”
Andrea now feels secure in her career, and doesn’t worry about being laid off. “Medical billing is a stable field, because healthcare professionals will always need medical billers in order to get paid for their services. Even if the job market is unstable, I believe I will have opportunities,” says Andrea.
What Andrea says about Seacoast: “I am so happy that I chose Seacoast Career Schools to further my education. The school was so supportive, and medical billing and coding is a great career path.”