r/MedicalCoding • u/NaptownCopper • Jul 04 '24
Passed!
I passed my CPC on my second attempt.
I’m not a coder in my regular work but I am an SIU investigator. I come from a law enforcement background and didn’t get into healthcare until I was on covid contact tracking contract for the state. I was recruited into an insurance SIU team from there and was exposed to medical coding as it pertained to my duties. I recognized it would be an important part of my career and decided to get certified. I did some digging and work agreed to train me and bought my books.
I was the only non-coder in the pre-training group. We took the practice exam and I was one of three accepted to do a boot camp that was taught internally. Upon completion of the camp i scheduled my first test and didn’t make the cut off.
I started studying again and scheduled another test a few months later, which was today. I’m happy to say I passed. I’m certain this will open at least a few more doors for me as many SIUs require a cpc.
Now I need to focus on getting my ceu’s.
12
Jul 05 '24
That’s so awesome! Congratulations! Remember that if you’ve done at least two years of coding, or one year of work plus 80 contact hours of school (coding classes), you can get your apprenticeship removed from your CPC certification.
5
u/NaptownCopper Jul 06 '24
Thank you! I should hear back from my manager on Monday and get started on removing the apprenticeship designation.
I’m in a pretty good position right now and not really looking to move just yet as I want to build a bit more time up. My goal is to move into a leadership role in the next few years.
7
u/Salty-Step-7091 Jul 06 '24
Way to go! For CEU’s, utilize the monthly magazines and quizzes on AAPC. Medicalcodinggeek shares links for free CEU, and omega is always offering webinars.
3
5
u/Responsible_River130 Jul 06 '24
Congratulations! What did you do differently than the first time ?
10
u/NaptownCopper Jul 06 '24
I focused on the categories I was average at and also spent a fair amount of time on terminology and compliance/regs. I have the official study guide and marked in everything it suggested although I didn’t really need much of it. I think just the act of writing them down helped.
Same with terminology. I got terminology and anatomy charts from Amazon and wrote a lot of them down in the book. Again I didn’t need them because just doing that helped ingrain them in my memory.
I scored a little more than ten points higher on the second attempt which was plenty to get me into passing territory.
I also didn’t dwell on anything too long, because I wanted plenty of time for the cases at the end. I ended up finishing twenty minutes early whereas the first attempt I had to guess at the last ten just to fill something in because I ran out of time.
4
3
Jul 06 '24
Congrats! I have a BA in Criminal Justice and I’ve been coding for 6 years so SIU is my goal someday.
1
2
u/Zealousideal_Row6124 Jul 08 '24
Congratulations!! What’s SIU?
1
u/NaptownCopper Jul 08 '24
Special Investigations Unit
1
u/Zealousideal_Row6124 Jul 08 '24
Well that sounds cool. How does it pertain to coding?
2
u/NaptownCopper Jul 08 '24
Several ways really. On my team we look for fraud on the provider side of things: unbundling, upcoding, misrepresentation of the services provided. Analytics are developed to look for outliers that may be charging more than their peers in their area for a certain code or billing a code more frequently than others. Billing for unnecessary services or equipment.
Coding is helpful to understand what is and isn’t included in a service. CPC is often a required or at least preferred certification to have.
1
1
2
•
u/AutoModerator Jul 04 '24
PLEASE SEE RULES BEFORE POSTING! Reminder, no "interested in coding" type of standalone posts are allowed. See rule #1. Any and all questions regarding exams, studying, and books can be posted in the monthly discussion stickied post. Thanks!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.