Look Before You Leap!

Definition of a Mill:

1.  Accreditation mill. "Accreditation mill" means an entity that is created to give the appearance that certain substandard schools or institutions of higher education are legitimately accredited organizations, that is not recognized by any authorized state, professional or national agency and that has few, if any, standards for quality.

2.  Diploma mill. "Diploma mill" means an institution of higher education operating without accreditation or supervision of a state or a nationally recognized professional agency and granting diplomas that are either fraudulent or, because of lack of proper standards, worthless.

Here are some suggestions:

Before you start your training, you should investigate the entity providing the training. Like anything today, do your homework! The old adage: "Look before you leap" is true.

1) Find out the credentials of the instructor.  Would you want to be trained by someone with NO training or background in the subject they teach? If they don't have the proper background and credentials, what assurances do you have that they can answer your questions? You should want your instructor to be certified by a reputable medical assistant association, and one that has a certain amount of experience on the job.

2) Check out the training institution.  Go to the Better Business Bureau and look at how many complaints have been made against the institution. Check to see where the institution is located. Is it located in Baghdad Iraq, the Barbados, or British Virgin Islands? And find out whether their school is listed on any state government lists of unaccredited schools.

3) Find out their location.  If the company is located outside the jurisdiction of US Law, it may be hard for a government agency to go after someone that might be ripping you off. If the institution is located in the US, check the company out with the state's Division of Corporations.

4) Check their address.  I have found some companies give one address in their marketing materials and after checking their filing with the State, the company is listed as being inactive, or the address they reported to the State is different in their marketing materials. I once drove to the physical address of one company and it was a vacant lot, other times you find a Mailboxes Etc. where ANYBODY can set up an address. Others use a downtown post office box.

5) Check their standing in the community.  Do people you know recommend the school and do employers in your area recognize the institution? Don't rely on the internet. A scammer can easily distribute articles on the web, publish their own public relations, submit news casts, set up fake forums, and plant fake positive customer feedback. Rather than searching the Web it is better to just check if there was any action taken against the company by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC can fine and order companies to cease and desist when they do not play by the rules.

6) Check the materials you are being sent.  Some training programs are out to sell their medical billing software or medical assisting programs. Some correspondence courses send outdated manuals, sometimes lifted off old US Army manuals. Their training CDs often are nothing but pitches for their software. Training should be just that - training! All books and materials should be current, not outdated old manuals from decades ago.

7) Check for hidden costs. Do they include certification upon completion of your training, or is that an extra cost?

8) Find out about their refund policies.  Do NOT let the cost of the training to influence you. Just because a program costs $60,000 doesn't mean it is any better than a program costing $600.

9) Ask about externship and job placement.  Do they offer 100% job placement or do they require you to pay for lists of providers in your area you could contact. I do not recommend paying for doctor lists. More often than not the list is not even accurate.

10) Ask about the program's pass rate. How big are the classes, and how many students graduate each year successfully? What is their certification exam pass rate?

More tips here:
CHEA: An accrediting organization may be a mill

A long list published on Wikipedia:
List of unrecognized accreditation associations of higher learning.

 

On this highly competitive job market the one thing that opens doors is documentation of your qualifications!