I’ve been studying for my healthcare data analytics certification through the American Health Information Management Association for over a year. I wish I knew how many months I have been studying, but it has been over a year. I finished my second bachelor’s about a year and a half ago. After a few months off, I started studying for this current certification exam. Initially, I wanted to study healthcare information management. Still, the university I ended up attending that was within my budget and in a format that I found compatible with my learning style would not let me into their healthcare information management program, also known as HIM. Because they would not let me into that program, I decided to get a degree in healthcare management, which was a good fit, and I enjoyed it. There was a bit of overlap between the healthcare information management program and the healthcare management program that I completed.
They were not the same, however. I have been off and on for over a year, buried in textbooks and online textbooks, googling definitions of upcoding, LOINCS, clinical documentation improvement programs, optical networking technology, etc. Some days, I will lose my mind if I have to answer one more question on how to help assist with accurate coding. I grew up with a mom who was a nurse, and I loved the medical field. That is why I tried to do pre-nursing the first time before switching to exercise science, which was my first degree. This is why I went back to school to do healthcare management. I love learning about the human body and how to help people. I love learning about the systems that have sprung up. I want to improve the existing systems and advocate for better systems for patients in the long run. When I returned to school, I thought about doing an accounting, teaching, and information technology degree. If they offered that degree at the online school I was going to, I thought about it.
The problem was that I could not get out of my head how fun it was as a kid to look at the anatomy and physiology books that my mom had, how much I had loved my exercise science degree, and how fascinating I had found my healthcare management classes once I got into them. If I gave all that up, if I gave up what I found interesting, what helped my brain feel alive, what would I find riveting in my career after that? Working at a doctor’s office was stressful and emotionally difficult for many reasons. Besides my coworkers who mentored me, nurtured me, and helped me make the most of learning social skills, what I enjoyed the most about that job was learning about the different treatments for the specialty practice I was working in. The field of healthcare administration is not a career that pops up when anyone googles promising careers for those with autism. Working in a medical lab, sure, but not directly working with patients and healthcare requires working with people in general.
In retrospect, it would have been easier to make a lot of money or more in accounting. I could have found something interesting about whatever career field I chose. Still, I could not satisfy my fascination with healthcare and the human body. My high school anatomy and physiology teacher told me I probably should not do exercise science because I would enjoy a history degree more. I have been to school twice for a bachelor’s degree and never chose a history degree. It was my high school anatomy and physiology course that piqued my interest in healthcare. I had the opportunity to participate in animal dissections, look at slides of human scales underneath the microscope, and learn more about careers in the healthcare field.
Sometimes, careers are selected by an individual, and sometimes, a career picks you. My career, well, my career, and what I aspire to be my career in the future is something that has picked me. I am the daughter of a nurse and an engineer. My goal is to assist in solving problems in healthcare delivery and prevention systems. I love learning about the billing system and the financial systems behind healthcare. I also would love to be a part of making healthcare, especially in the United States, affordable and better for patients. I have a passion for solving problems and for trying to make the world a better place while I’m doing that. Sometimes, it feels like a one-way love affair and obsession, especially when it took so long to get my foot in the door, but I am glad I have stuck around.
In retrospect, I should have gone for an accounting or MIS degree and then specialized in healthcare. I wish I had done this when I was getting my first bachelor’s degree. I could have done that, but this is the path I have had available and taken, so I intend to make the best of it.
Living on the Spectrum 
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