Antibiotics in Food – Stopping the Rise of Superbugs

The Allen School Online blog has long covered the subject of MRSA and other so-called “superbugs” which are virulent strains of pathogens highly resistant to antibiotic treatment.  The long suspected culprit behind the rise of MRSA and other superbugs is the abuse of antibiotics by agri-business which continues to routinely include antibiotics in the feed used on poultry, cattle and hog farms.  The overuse of antibiotics is thought to promote the mutation of bacteria as all but the most resistant strains are eliminated.  Unfortunately, farm lobbies have effectively thwarted any attempts to regulate or eliminate this dangerous practice.  However, the public is ahead of Congress (as usual) in their support for such regulations.  Follow over the fold for some truly terrifying data.  Continue reading…

New Year, New Goals

Welcome back Allen School Online students.  The new year is now upon us and it holds exceptional promise for growth and advancement.  Especially if you’re preparing to enter the career force as a medical billing and coding professional.  It is also a time to refocus our energies on the goals we set forth for ourselves.  So after great reflection, what have you resolved to accomplish this year?  Share your resolutions, plans and goals with your fellow Allen School Online students in the comments section below.  Sharing your perspectives is a great contribution to your fellow students and a wonderful way to help articulate your plans.

Stories of Holiday Good Will

Sometimes this world can seem downright cruel.  All year long, the news is dominated by story after story of people doing horrible things each unto the other.  From large scale wars and crimes against humanity to the exploitation of the weak, old and infirm, there is much wickedness in these times.  It can almost make one throw their hands into the air and decide, disgustedly, to simply not care any more. But then, each December, as the holiday season really gets into swing, it seems as though people stop to think a bit more about how to exercise good will and increased kindness toward their fellow man.  Take for example this heartwarming story here. Then consider the man in Colorado who returned an unmarked casino envelope containing $10,000 in cash he found in the airport. Whether these stories exist because of a jaded media’s attempt to sow the illusion of good will toward men to capitalize on the holidays or because people truly do soften their hearts at the holidays, the net effect is to restore a bit of faith in humanity.  This is sorely needed as one’s faith in humanity, these days, is rightly shaken on a regular enough basis that it hardly shocks us anymore. This holiday season, remember to love your fellow travelers in this life and try to treat all you encounter with the kindness you’d wish to be treated with.

Top 10 Sites for Finding Medical Billing and Coding Jobs

Top 10 Medical Billing and Coding JobsHere is a list of the top ten sites aggregating job opportunities in medical billing and coding.  The list is courtesy of www.billingandcoding.com which has a lot of pertinent resources for those in possession of a certificate in medical billing and coding.
  1. AAPC: Visit this web site, which specializes in the business side of health care, including medical billing. Job openings and more resources for medical billers.
  2. All Things Medical Billing: Learn more about your career options, and look for job openings.
  3. Medical Billing Jobs and Career: Look for different medical billing job opportunities. Find our more about where you can work as a medical biller.
  4. Medical Billing Jobs: JobCircle offers medical billing jobs by state. A helpful resource for the intrepid job seeker.
  5. Medical Billing Work at Home: Find different opportunities for medical billers who want to work from home. Good job prospects.
  6. Medical Billing and Coding: Different job openings, as well as career information and help. A great place to start.
  7. American Medical Billing Association: Visit this web site for career help and information, as well as information on starting your own business and finding medical billing jobs.
  8. Medical Billing Specialist: Great resource for finding jobs related to medical billing. Job and career site.
  9. All Medical Billing Jobs: Search engine for medical billing jobs. Find what you’re looking for with this helpful tool.
  10. Medical Billing at Home: A look at how you can become a medical biller from your home.

Most Ridiculous Fast Food of 2011

I wait for this list every year.  We always cover “over the top” fast food creations on this blog for some reason.  Well this year’s list of the craziest or most wildly unhealthy food items has dropped.  Will someone puhLEEZE tell me how I missed the Doritos Taco Bell taco?  OMG!  That looks EPIC!  Let’s thank America’s purveyors of fast food for their assistance in providing customers for doctors and the medical billers they employ!   Enjoy the madness.

A New Beginning Rises out of Lower Manhattan

The shadows of the Twin Towers Stretch Over Lower Manhattan

Although some of you may be studying online from places very far away from New York, the Allen School ground campuses and administrative offices are all located in the greater New York City metro area.  As such, we all have a local connection to the events of 9/11.  This blogger traveled from his home about an hour upstate into Manhattan over the last weekend to attend a birthday party and noticed, for the first time, the looming superstructure of the new Freedom Tower rising up in the gaping hole left in the skyline of lower Manhattan by the fallen World Trade Center towers.  It was both a visceral shock and an emotional moment.  It felt as though something that had long been missing, something stolen, had been returned to city and my view. So I was pretty jazzed to see this story on the cool-beans website, Gizmodo.com. Have a look at the killer view the new tower will sport.  Can’t wait until it opens so I can go to the top and look down.

Get Your Resume Past the Electronic Screeners

With so many people looking for jobs in this tough economy, hiring authorities are getting buried under mountains of resumes.  Many have turned to automation software to scan and screen paper resumes and sort out the relevant ones from the rest.  As a result, most resumes aren’t reviewed by a human being until they have been selected by the algorithm of a sophisticated “applicant tracking system” software.  Wanna know how to game that system and make sure that your resume is actually viewed by the hiring manager?  I BET you do.  Let me hook you up with some pretty savvy, tech-based, Human Resources secret knowledge.  Visit this awesome article from the cool nerds over at Lifehacker.com.  It tells you the whole story on how to use keywords and other techniques for getting past the robot screener.

Boost Concentration and Memory

Being an Online Student at Allen School Online (or really being a student of medical billing and coding anywhere) requires great levels of concentration and memory.  There are many specifics to learn, commit to memory and recall, as needed once you enter the fast paced work world.  For this reason, I think nearly all our readers could benefit from some tips on how to keep your brain fresh and operating at optimal levels.  | Some of these things are intuitive like, “Don’t deprive yourself of sleep if it can be helped” and “Eat more foods with Omega 3 fatty acids which help boost brain activity”.  But there are alot of other techniques too like “Making sure to find laughter and laugh often” and “Enjoy a glass of wine several times each week” which don’t seem like the standard, run of the mill suggestions. Here and here are some links to several sites offering more orthodox and unorthodox ideas for keeping your mind sharp.

Productivity Boosting Sites for Students

Being an online student at Allen School means you’re already someone inclined to multi-task and to find innovative ways of getting work done more quickly and efficiently.  So you’ll probably be stoked with this list of nearly 30 websites designed to help students optimize their activities in such student-centric areas as online research, homework composition, buying/selling of textbooks, handy tools and academic social networking.  Find easy PDF converters, textbook exchanges, professor reviews and many other tools, services and products to help optimize your productivity as a student.  Visit this Student Productivity Guide for the details.  You can thank me later!