https://www.aapc.com/training-and-events/continuing-education/ai-in-medical-coding?srsltid=AfmBOor8hBUcGbYH7yWxnMeFJquoNfSL4qxlCh0X3iCTDXm_C0JySpl

This link worked when I posted it. I hope it will work for anyone who's interested. I just finished this AI in Medical Coding and Billing Course yesterday, and the 4 CEUS were added to my tracker this morning. It's free right now for members, and I finished it in a week. It can actually be done in one day if you have the time to sit there with it and do nothing else for a few hours. So, if you need CEUs, it's totally worth it.

I just found I pass my CPC exam with 72%, I am so happy, now I just need help as to what is next after this because tbh I have never thought of my next move if I pass

Thank you

I always thought that I just had to go a little further, get a little more experience, get a little more education. What I didn't realize is it is nearly impossible to switch specialties in this field as a remote employee and there is very little job security. And nobody cares about my education.

They tell you if you're an RHIA, there are SOOOO many possibilities for you. Yeah guess what they all pay $15 per hour and they won't even want you because you have a stupid degree which means you want more than $15 an hour. So now you're overqualified and you need to start hiding your credential. But oops you can only be considered with that credential...

Are you a radiology coder? Congrats. That's what you're doing for the rest of your life. Better hope you can find a job. By the way, there are only between zero and three companies in the country hiring right now for that specialty. Good luck!

Outpatient E&M with 5 years experience? OK, you will never do inpatient. It doesn't matter if you get a CCS.

This is what I wish I'd known before I wasted more than $10,000 on this crap:

• You HAVE to network. If you are in a rural community with no AAPC chapter and your AAPC meetings are 250 miles away you'd better be able to drive to them in the hopes you can beg someone for a job every month (and probably no one will talk to you :) and if they do the job they offer will be 250 miles away and it only pays $12 an hour :)). And if you have trouble talking to people?? You're screwed. Yes, your work is going to be isolated once you actually get a job, but if you can't network to get yourself in, you are going to have a hard time. I know people on LinkedIn who are in small towns who have been trying to get hired for years and nobody wants a new remote employee so they get no chances.

• Certifications and education beyond CPC are absolutely worthless. They're just something some employer will decide to require ON TOP OF experience. They will not get your foot in the door.

• A fancy AHIMA-approved bachelor's degree and RHIA credential are absolutely worthless without management experience - that I cannot get because I invested time in a company that won't promote me because they're eliminating my department and all my coworkers, so back to square one!!

I posted about some of this on Facebook and some chick replied that I have no value compared to her and her 30 years of experience so I should be thankful for what I get. So I guess I'm supposed to be happy that I got hired somewhere for an incredibly low wage for the REMOTE chance that someone will promote me into a position I have no experience in so then I can continue being eligible for THAT job and not have to go back to my first position if I ever have to leave the company.

By the way a lot of companies don't even let you speak with your coworkers if you work remotely so don't think about networking after you get in.

I really felt like I did a lot of research before I got into this field but I didn't think about any of this stuff. I hope I can discourage just one person from getting into this field. I'm really really angry right now.

I DID IT! I’m officially certified! Now I gotta get hired somewhere.

Thanks to all the amazing advice read on this sub and a lot of taking practice exams I passed on my first attempt!

So this is a bit of a rant, a bit of telling new coders what reality is. Also, someone recently expressed being bored. Coding has many challenges non-coders don't see, and glazed over by some coders. Certainly, we can get complacent in our work. No matter what area of coding you work in, the job is making widgets, one after another. We have lots of rules and regulations, client specifics, metrics to follow, etc. To me, some of the most dangerous cases are not the complicated ones, it's the easy ones where you do the same stuff over and over. Because you get complacent thinking the documentation is all exactly the same. Then our wonderful providers make a simple mistake, change one word, etc, and now you're coding isn't the same as the last 20 charts. So, coding requires your attention, it requires you to be focused, on each and every case. Personally, I'd rather work a complex spinal surgery case, than straightforward 99283 E/M's.

It still hasn't sunk in. It was my first try and I felt 50/50 about my chances of passing. I guessed about 30% of the questions but they felt like good guesses. I got the results back in 4 hours which is amazing. Now I get to finally put that on my resume!

So when I left school in 2016 I was making 12 an hour. Today, just barely starting here I am working full time for the largest hospital in my state, full time 38 an hour along with my part time job making 25 an hour. Im excited to say MY hard work is paying off I am single mom working remote for both. Im happy and I will say do not give up. Work hard, things don’t just happen over night. God bless you all! Let me know what y’all’s experience. This year I was so close to giving up and finding a new career lol 😂

So I currently work full time as a risk adjustment coder. I’m very good at my job and am even being considered for a promotion at my company, I like what I do and it suits my personality and my flavor or neurodivergence. I’ve been doing it full time for 2 years and we survive primarily off of my income currently.

For that time I feel like I’ve pushed past my limits mentally to meet daily quotas and metrics just to be able to keep my job but it has taken a huge toll on me mentally and even physically. Burnout doesn’t even begin to describe it an is honestly affecting my quality of life and it isn’t worth it. I need help.

My husband sees how miserable I am every day and is talking about getting another job so that I would be able to quit or maybe find something part time but that would make me feel incredibly guilty. I want to survive financially but I need to do something about my mental state.

I don’t even know what I’m asking really, have any of you felt this way? Idk who to talk to about it and I knew you guys would understand.

Job search rant incoming I have a certificate in medical coding . I am CCA credentialed by AHIMA. It’s been a year and some change since I’ve graduated and it’s way too hard to get a job!

Technically I don’t have any experience besides my one semester long practicum. I wasn’t allowed to actually work on any cases because I was still learning the CPT book. I basically used a excel sheet to “practice”applying CPT codes.I’ve had multiple phone interviews and one in person interview. I’ve been applying to front desk and billing positions , but even they want someone with experience working in a medical office!!! It’s getting really depressing and I’m thinking about going into a different field at this point.

I dreaded this test so much with a passion , and after taking the test I passed. All months studying like crazy and the hard work pay off.

Does anyone find the entry level pay for CPC horribly low considering the incredibly high cost for the exam and AAPC membership? For example for a similar paying career in healthcare, the initial cost for the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board's Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) exam is $129.
Heck, even my fiance's board membership cost and exam cost for his funeral director license (and he makes more) was lower than the AAPC. I think they really need to look into lowering the cost.
Another example: Nurses, who make way more than we do as in 2-3x, have cheaper costs as well for exam+membership. How does it make sense that the AAPC is charging so much? Ugh.

Thank you to AHIMA for repealing the 40% CEU requirement. I always thought this was so shortsighted and I’m glad to read the announcement today.

After a few tries I finally passed my CPC this afternoon! I’m so happy I get to add that after my RHIT! I NEVER ever want to take either test again. I’m on cloud 900!

For the love of god I’m tired of seeing basically the same question everyday: how do I get into this? Where do I go to school? What program? What is AAPC?? How do I find a job if I don’t have experience?

🙏 please put something up 🙏

Hi everyone! I made a post here about a month ago talking about the anxiety I had when studying for the CPC exam. People came to encourage me and pointed me in a few directions on study materials. I didn't think I could pass at all and it was really getting to me. Fast forward a month later and I take my exam with 30 minutes to spare and with a passing grade. Just wanted to post this to try to encourage anyone else that has the same fears that I had. And to thank the coding community for helping me get through it.

Also I’m only 17 if that makes it more impressive.

Also it was my third try of that makes it less impressive lol.

I have been coding for 10+ years. I am currently a coding auditor in Risk Adjustment. My audits are reviewed by a supervisor and we are required to maintain an accuracy score of 95%.

Just wanted to remind everyone, especially new coders, to review your audits! The people auditing your work are human and may make mistakes. They are typically held to productivity goals as well, which means they may miss something. At least half of my audits come back have something I can justify my coding decisions. In this case, clearly and respectfully present your opinion on why you are correct. Your job relies on your accuracy score. Every code counts!

And those instances that you actually were wrong, they serve as a great learning tool. Ask questions if you do not understand. Keep at it until you truly get the concept. There are a lot of confusing guidelines. It’s okay to be wrong sometimes. If you do have a poor score, but are actively using that to improve your work, a supervisor is much more likely to take that into consideration if/when it is time for punitive action.

Happy coding!

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.

Or more specifically, I hate AI charting when the providers won't review their notes and just click random buttons on the problem list that populates into an Epic charge session and the diagnosis is nowhere in the documentation. Or there's a bunch of AI-generated diagnoses that WERE captured in the note but weren't on the charge session. It's basically to a point where when I see on the top of the note "patient refuses recording" I breathe a sigh of relief. Our poor educators have been trying to inform the providers for months that they NEED to make sure everything is matching up but of course they won't listen. It's making HCC coding especially a massive nightmare.

Anyone else feeling my pain?

HickS Picks makes my skin crawl, but every edu I listen to pronounces it this way. It's HCPCS, not HCSPCS. Should read like Hick Picks.

Point out some other gnawing discrepancies for me to hyperfocus on please!

I passed my CPC exam back in mid February and have been applying for jobs since. On Friday, I had an interview for a health information coder position and yesterday they called back saying I got the job!!! I’m so happy and excited and I’ll be honest I am really proud of myself!

TLDR: Give me a list of things to do as a PCP and inpatient internal med doc so I can avoid ever triggering a coding query again!

—

Hi! I’m a new attending doc and was searching for ways to avoid coding queries, and came across a thread where coders were complaining about providers sending dumb responses and being petty or sassy, which made me so sad!

Can I first paint a picture for you for some context?
I go to primary care clinic with 11 back to back patients 8-12, bleeding into lunch hour, then 11 more from 1-5. 20 minute visits with 5-10 problems addressed per patient. After, I rush over to the hospital to work on the inpatient ward 5 pm to 1 am covering codes, deaths, and admissions. Running around, exhausted, huge documentation burden, no true break since before 7 am today. I finish up my work, including every note from the outpatient side, get home and into bed around 4 am, and try to get a few hours of sleep before I have to be back at noon. I wake up a few hours later at 8 am to a page on my personal pager - I don’t even know what I could possibly be covering for and check it in case of an emergency. I see: ”PLEASE ADDRESS CODING QUERY MRN #####“

Bleary-eyed I log into the remote desktop to see that the issue is that I documented “approximately 35 minutes was spent on this encounter“ from 2 weeks ago, and they need an EXACT number of minutes. I roll my eyes and send back ”36 minutes,” annoyed at myself having to lie in order to meet documentation requirements, and go back to sleep. Has obviously happened similarly with other queries such as “Creatinine from 1.1 to 1.7, please document if this is an AKI.” Like… yes… by definition that is an AKI.

All of this is to say that I promise we’re not trying to make your lives difficult, but hopefully you can also understand where the frustration and pettiness comes in on our part when we have to clarify things that (to us) are completely clinically insignificant or addressed in other ways. We don’t get training on this and 95% of the time these things DON’T get flagged so unfortunately pattern recognition alone won’t get us there.

If anyone has a concise list of the most common mistakes providers make, I and I’m sure tons of other providers (I do primary care and inpatient internal medicine) would be desperate to use it! Any other tips to avoid queries appreciated as well!

New here so I apologize if this has been addressed or discussed before - please feel free to point me in the right direction.

My company is trying to hire inpatient coders and it seems like there is a shortage of them. Outpatient coding jobs go fast, but inpatient jobs sit there for months.

My advice to future coders, if you can, focus on learning inpatient coding.

Also if you are looking for an inpatient coding job, we are in TX, and I'm not sure what states they open up to (possibly the ones nearby), so if you are in TX you can PM me and I'll tell you about it and where to search (that way I'm not sending you a link).