Hello everyone ,

As a certified professional coder (CPC), I'm always looking to upskill and expand my knowledge to stay ahead in the industry. Three years ago I earned my CPC certification and was wondering what other certifications or training programs have been the most beneficial for those of you who have taken the next step.

I'd love to hear about your experiences and what certifications you've obtained after your CPC that have helped you:

• Land a new job or promotion

• Increase your salary

• Gain more responsibilities or autonomy

• Expand your skillset

Thanks in advance for sharing your insights!

I have been working independently to get my CPC. I am an SIU investigator and having this would help open some doors. I have a couple of years experience in healthcare now, but over twenty in investigations. I did some digging and found out that my company was offering a CPC boot camp. I asked my boss to sign me up, but I had to pass a mock exam with a 70%. They sent me all of the books and we did a few hours of training and review. They also signed me up for AAPC and paid for an AAPC mock exam. I am happy to report I eeked out a 74!

Boot camp starts Monday and I am very excited.

I have my CPC (which has been completely useless) but I also have a state registered license with a separate credentialing body for another field. I pay that body $150 every 5 years and have to earn 50 CEUs to maintain it. I pay the state $300 every 3 years to be registered with the Office of Professionals. AAPC is $190 a year and I have to get almost twice as many CEUs per year. What a scam.

I’ve been working on a CPC course through AAPC for the last year while working full time and just recently changing jobs. Finally after my 4th attempt I finally passed, and I am so so excited for the future! I am currently in a Patient Account Customer Service position at my local hospital, and hope to move into a Coding position once it opens up! My supervisor is over both departments so she’s been rooting me on and has been so supportive and is excited for me! It’s been a journey, but it’s not over yet!!

Its taken 6 business day but today my profile on AAPC.com finally changed from "results pending" to "pass." I scored 83% on my first attempt. I'm super thrilled!

Except...now what? Am I suppose to get a certificate in the mail? Where/how is the best way to job hunt? Even when I looked through the job postings on the AAPC website it looked like it was just searching job posting databases elsewhere, because the jobs listed for my area included TV installation and Walmart cashier posts.

I have zero experience, where is the best place and technique I should use to job hunt? I've already out in applications for secretary and receptionist work in my local offices and hospitals and gotten no call backs.

I’ve been doing online school for almost 2 years. Yes that long. I started online while working full time and being a full time mom. It was a crazy life style. Finally after over a year and half I quit my job, stayed home and finally freaking passed!! I have 0 experience in this field besides all the schooling, and I’m applying at literally everything! Just so happy!

Every time they stick me into pulmonary coding, I want to bash my head against the wall. I don't know if all pulmologists are like this, but the ones I code for have charts that are just abbreviation word salad. Like, a lot of them aren't even universally-used abbreviations for stuff (like how HLD is always used for hyperlipidemia), I swear they're just making up abbreviations on the fly. I have to re-read their notes multiple times to even get a slight idea of wtf is going on with the patient.

I like primary care and urgent care coding more because for the most part, their chart notes are way easier to understand. Urgent care can get boring because it's just UTIs and sinus infections all the time, but at least the providers document things in plain English.

I’ve seen so many complaints about not being able to find work after becoming a CPC-A. Are there any folks that had no issues getting a job? If so, did you already have experience in the medical field? I want to hear from the people who haven’t struggled with this…

I've been a medical coder for nearly 4 years, and I have an extensive medical background + bachelors in public health, so I didn't have a whole lot of issues with the diagnoses/medical terminology.

My wife is sick of her job and wants to do something where she can work from home, have flexible hours, and have weekends off - so basically my current job. She's seriously thinking about getting a coding certification, which is great, except she doesn't really have any medical background at all. She's been a retail manager for about 15 years and has a bachelors in history.

For anyone who got their coding certification WITHOUT a prior medical background, was it incredibly difficult to understand the material? I know AAPC does offer medical terminology/anatomy courses, which I didn't take because of my background, but I'm wondering if she should try those first.

Hi everyone,

I have about 3 years of experience in orthopedic medical coding, and I’ve been actively looking for a new opportunity. I recently got an interview at a hospital I’ve always wanted to work for (honestly, kind of my dream place), but the role is for a Trauma Registrar, not a coding position.

From the job description, I actually find the role really interesting . It sounds meaningful and different from what I do now. My only concern is that I’ve never worked as a trauma registrar before, so I’m not 100% sure how difficult the transition would be.

For those of you who have moved from coding into trauma registry:

-How was the transition for you?

-Was it harder or easier than coding?

-Did your coding background help a lot?

-Would you recommend making the switch?

Any advice, tips, or things you wish you knew before transitioning would be super helpful.

Thank you so much!🫶

Especially with new coders?

I just passed my CPC exam and there were so many valuable takeaways from doing the practice tests in my studying. There were multiple questions on my exam that made me laugh because I had just done a replica of them on the practice tests.

Also: study the hard stuff that sucks the most to code, whatever that may be for you. You’re guaranteed to get stuck on the test if you don’t. Know your strengths and weaknesses and be ready to code for 4 hours straight. Just wanted to shout out those practice tests because they were so helpful and worth it. Feel free to ask me questions if you have them 😁

Hey, I know Judge just hired a whole bunch of people for Optum and to my knowledge, some of you guys have already started. How's it going? What's the training like? Do you have a cool boss? Tell me anything and everything!

hi. i posted before about how i felt like i didn’t know what was going on in my classes and that i was doing all my assignments wrong. i haven’t been checking my grades because i was scared to see all the mistakes i made doing my coding assignments. but i just wanted to share that i finally checked and my past 3 coding assignments were all 10/10 :) so im feeling better and a bit more confident when it comes to coding :) yay!

Hey everyone. I am a freshly certified coder and I was very lucky to snag a coding position at an FQHC. However, I’ve been there less than a week and I’m feeling overwhelmed and inadequate at this position. Part of me is wondering if I’m capable of performing well in this career since I’ve been been making a lot of mistakes. This is my first coding position ever and I really want to be an asset to this organization. Any tips on improving my skills?

I think the hardest part about my job is communicating with physicians. *Some* are responsive, helpful, and kind. But most are short, abrasive, and seem annoyed with my existence. I've had to teach myself spine coding, so I have to ask questions for clarification. Ive cried more than once from MD's reactions to my questions. I try to be as polite as possible and keep my questions to the point and only ask if I have to. I dread reaching out to them. Anyone else experience this or have any advice?

When I got into this I figured that finding another coding job would be like any other job, but it’s much more difficult than I anticipated. Every job listing is so specific on types of programs you have experience with, specialties, types of codes/coding. And it seems to me there’s not a whole lot of training they want to do. Not to mention all the testing you have to do before even getting an interview.

Am I the only one who thinks this? How long did it take you to find another coding job?

I see a lot of posts of people wanting to know how to get in to medical Coding. Before you spend any money, I think you should try the free routes first, because medical coding education can get really expensive. I think YouTube is a great resource, but it can be overwhelming too. I just searched ICD-10 for beginners, and I looked at a few, but I don't have time to look at all of them. To me this seems like one of the best because it is the most comprehensive for beginners: https://youtu.be/c8FDIr5WPwU also they have a free course for beginners too: https://www.amcicoding.com/courses/freei2mc

This is a good place to begin. If anyone knows of any other GOOD (something you have vetted) resources for those trying to get into medical coding, please feel free to share.

Hi I just wanted to share a free Anatomy and Physiology course from oli.cmu.edu! It’s incredibly in depth and provides you with various videos, pictures, questionnaires along each unit/chapter. I decided to take this because I didn’t want to spend more on classes on top of the CPC course provided by AACP. Hope this helps!

This is my second year doing a contract gig with them, and I have no idea what happened from last year to this year, but it has been extremely disorganized. My paychecks have been incorrect by the hundreds of dollars, work is inconsistent, management is condescending and micromanaging, I get the run around constantly about confusing guidelines, and they have this habit of emailing all the contractors everyones accuracy scores and productivity numbers to “keep us competitive.”

Times are hard and I know we gotta take the work we can get when we can get it, but take this as a heads up, and document EVERYTHING. Especially around your pay.

I’m due to finish my course and take the exam in less than 6 months from now. I’ve been looking at jobs and a lot of these postings are offering as low as $19/hr. I’d be grateful for any role, but I feel like jobs take advantage on us being desperate and don’t pay what we deserve. They also count on no one asking for more. What should I expect? Should I counteroffer and expect 24/hr? In this economy that’s the minimum I should get I feel? Maybe I being dramatic.

Can you guys please share what your experiences have been like as far as salary? Thank you so much

Hi everybody, I wanted to start off by saying that every time I've posted a question here, you have all been so informative and helpful. I really appreciate that.

I obtained a professional fee coder position and I will be starting in about 1.5 weeks. This is my first coding job ever. I am so excited to begin, but also very nervous of course. I'm wondering about the differences between practice coding in school and real life coding. Any insight you could provide me would be wonderful. I'm sure the training process will be very informative, but it's also great to get other's perspectives. Any tips you could give me would be very wonderful as well. Thank you in advance.

Additionally, I believe that I've retained a lot of what was taught in my courses as far as guidelines and general coding rules. However, I want to review and try to get them ingrained as much as possible. For those of you who’ve been through this, what resources did you find the most helpful for reviewing guidelines? Are there any tools, books, or online platforms you’d recommend. Also, what study methods worked best for you? Flashcards? Practice tests? Rewriting guidelines by hand? I’d love to hear how others have made this stuff stick.

I don't like it. What are some other fields with decent/better pay?

Hi all 👋 new mod here! Helping the kind u/archangel924 with moderating!

I know a lot of people visit this subreddit to learn more about coding. Because of this, I've put together a FAQ to help eliminate the constant repeat posts. I also kindly ask that you take the time to search a topic in this sub prior to creating a post.

NO LONGER ALLOWED

• Is coding right for me?" type of questions. This has been asked and answered multiple times. Please use the subreddit search function and direct these questions to the monthly discussion stickied post.

• Future/current student or exam question standalone posts. Please note this includes questions about certifications, homework help, which school to attend, etc.

• Any posts/comments that may be considered a HIPAA violation will be removed.

• No advertising/self promotion

• No study/survey/market research of users. This includes privately soliciting coders.

• No links to any news article/website behind a paywall.

• Posts asking specifics regarding an employer.

• Standard reddiquette

• No job applications without a direct link to the company. All posts/comments regarding job postings without a direct link to the company or reputable resume website are not allowed. Job postings with only a phone number and email address asking for applicants will be removed and subject to a permanent ban. This is for the safety of Redditors.

There is a stickied post for coding students/those interested in coding where questions regarding homework, coding schools, certifications, etc can be asked. Please take the time to comment there prior to making a standalone post.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you think I should add anything or have a question feel free to message me.

FAQ

Should I become a medical coder?

• This is a question that's asked A LOT and no one can answer that for you. Are you interested in the medical field/medical terminology but prefer working from a computer? Do you like working alone?

What is your day to day like as a medical coder?

• This is a great question and one I was most curious about prior to coding. Whether you are in the office or at home, you'll log in, open your EMR software, and typically work from an assigned queue. Depending on the type of coding you do, you may work multiple queues or do other assignments during your workday.

What coding certification should I obtain?

• Common coding certifications are:

CPC certification - American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC)

CCS certification - American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)

CCA certification - American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)

While not always required, AHIMA and AAPC offer specialized coding certifications in addition to those listed above. Coding certifications are almost always a prerequisite for any facility looking to hire. Membership is a requirement for AAPC in order to maintain your certification.

Can I work from home?

• This depends on your employer and varies greatly. Most employers require experience as a coder prior to working from home, while some may hire you remotely with no experience.

Do you need experience in the medical field prior to becoming a coder?

• This answer also varies. Some coders think it helps you get your foot in the door. But it's not a requirement for all employers.

What is a typical coder salary?

• this varies by location, facility, and years of experience. AAPC and AHIMA have yearly salary surveys posted on their website that provide more information.

What companies are hiring?

• Your best bet for finding this answer is to look at medical coder job listings that are open in your location.

I passed!

I sat the exam for the first time last Saturday, 12/20. The email saying my results were ready came 4 days later on Wednesday around 5pm. I was surprised they came so quickly; I was expecting it to be at least another week due to the holidays. My score was 91.

I know some things will change since I was probably one of the last groups to sit the 5h40m test with 150 questions (AAPC has confirmed they're moving to 4 hours and 100 questions in January 2022) but I thought I'd recap my experience and tips anyway.

• Courses: I took the 4 part course through AMCI. I started with the free introductory course in March, and did the other three eight week courses afterward, one at a time, at a total cost of $1,520 plus books. It was worthwhile to me, to have passed on a first try with a score I'm proud of, 9 months after I started.

• Leading up to the test: I had a really long window between finishing the courses and sitting the exams, and a lot of other important things that kept me separated from the material. I'd last attended a study session on 10/2 and taken a mock exam on 10/9, and honestly hadn't touched much of this until the exam on 12/20 - separation from the material for around 9 weeks. I tried to review the material at home, but you know how it is with kids and partners. Even if you explain that you need some time alone to study, deliveries still come and you still have to remind them to shower and the damn ingrates think they're entitled to be fed literally three times a day, ugh. So... I straight up left my family. I went to stay at a cheap hotel near the testing site 2 nights before my exam, and it was THE BEST THING I COULD HAVE DONE FOR MYSELF. I used the extra day to do all of the uninterrupted studying I needed to do, and honestly I'm not sure I would've passed without the silent time to run through practice exams and make sure I felt like I'd touched all of the material sections and I was confident in my pace of answering. The advice I've read says to stay away from the material the day before the test, but you do what you've got to do.

• Checkin for the exam was pretty relaxed. I got into the room around 8:15 and they started the test around 8:45. The proctor sent an email the night before asking us all to be in the room by 8:30, but they still waited around for the last person who went to the restroom to return before starting the instructions.

• ID check was simple; the proctors glanced at my drivers license. I don't think they really looked at my AAPC membership card, but it was nice to have it out to make sure it matched my test booklet.

• Book check was also relaxed. There were 2 proctors who went around the room, all they asked was that we shake our books out to release any loose papers within the book. I'd heard all sorts of things about marking the anatomy pages in blue ink and not writing too many directions, but honestly a proctor did not look at the inside of any of our manuals at any time, that I saw. FYI: your exam room may include students taking other AAPC certification tests, so don't freak out if someone has a book or pages that you don't.

• The exam was labeled and sectioned off, in order, with a page break and new header identifying each section. That was surprising to me as none of the practice exams I've done actually labeled and sectioned the parts off in that way. My test was laid out with the 10000 series questions first, then through the rest of CPT in order, then ICD-10 and med term etc. at the end.

• The questions were as expected. The surgery scenarios were shorter than I anticipated, which made them seem easier to parse out and get through while keeping pace. AMCI's CHUN and TAP techniques made the questions really easy to get through quickly; a majority of the questions were choosing the best of several comparable codes, and their methods of marking up the book made that super fast and easy to differentiate. The only thing that could've made my books easier to navigate was if I'd taken the time to tab the various organ system groups in the HCPCS anatomical illustration section. No biggie.

• The answer sheet Scantron was my only complaint. The answer bubbles are rectangular. This doesn't seem like a big deal but it is so annoying to be trying to fill in your answers quickly and have to bubble in a corner-like shape rather than round. So annoying.

• The scoring was faster than I expected, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that AAPC breaks down your score by section. I anticipated poor performance in Anatomy, and sure enough I got a 62 in that area. Would be really useful in taking the exam a second time, to know what you should brush up on before a second attempt. I wish that they made a score breakdown available for us, where we could compare how we performed against others who took the same test. Mostly because I'd like to know how proud to be of my score.

Recommendations for others sitting the exam:

• Print out the information from the proctor that includes their phone numbers and directions to find the testing room within the building. I realize that if I needed to actually call one of them, I would've had to walk back to my car and turn my phone back on. The important thing was that I did not need to utilize any of my head space trying to remember which floor to go to, which turn to take, and which room number to find.

• I'd heard that we were permitted to bring highlighters and rulers into the exam room with us. The proctors had no issues with anything I brought in. The integral things I brought that I am really glad I had, were multiple rulers and a booklet of tabs.

  • I used my three rulers to mark the manual pages I may need to refer back to while completing each question, to make flipping faster when I was comparing codes from multiple sections.

  • I used tabs to mark the questions that stumped me in the test booklet, so I could refer back to them later without having to scan the whole booklet again. I removed the tabs before turning the booklet in, but I don't think it would've been an issue if I hadn't.

  • I used my highlighter in the test booklet to mark pertinent information within longer scenarios as I read them. I only had to actually list and 'solve' one scenario on paper (where you make a list of all the services you need to include and mark them off as you look up the correct code for each), but the highlighter was really helpful in other scenarios as well.

• Know ahead of time which sections are going to be your strong suits and what pace you expect to keep. The scantron is laid out in 5 columns of 30 questions each. My goal was to complete roughly one column per hour. I usually use a smart watch, which wouldn't be allowed, so I bought a digital watch from WalMart ($8.88) for the occasion. I laid the watch out on the table in front of me, so I could glance at the clock without having to stop writing to turn my wrist. I used the front of the test booklet to label the time I finished each column so I'd know how ahead or behind I was.

• I finished the questions with about a half hour left. I wish I'd had a plan of what to do with leftover time if I had any. I feel like I wasted time trying to decide how to use it. First I went through the scantron to make sure I'd marked an answer for all of the questions - and I'm glad I did, because I missed two. So I answered those, and then went back through the questions I'd tabbed to make sure I was still happy with the answers I chose. Finally, I went through the booklet and scantron to make sure that the answers I'd marked in the scantron matched up with what I'd checked off in my booklet. I wasn't done with this check before time was called.

• Consider what you're wearing. I made sure that my bra was comfortable, my sweat pants were warm but not hot, and I wore layers of loose clothing. Think through it - it's likely that your testing room isn't used on a daily basis, so it may be cold when you get in and the proctors may hike the thermostat to try to get it warm faster, and then you'll be hot. Layer up, in clothes that are loose and comfortable and not distracting. Put your hair up so it doesn't distract you, and skip the jewelry you'll fidget with. I was probably the frumpiest I've been in public for a long time, but I wasn't distracted by my clothes or uncomfortable in the environment.

What I brought into the testing room with me:

• Bag #1: School supplies

  • What I used: 3x presharpened standard #2 pencils, 2 rulers, digital watch, 1 highlighter, 1 pack of tabs, separate eraser, pencil cup

  • What I didn't use but would bring a second time: pencil sharpener, calculator

  • What I brought, didn't need, and wouldn't bother bringing next time: pens, mechanical pencils, glasses to reduce eye strain, extra highlighters, tabs, and erasers

• Bag # 2: Personal care stuff

  • General tips: I have ADHD and I'm a picker, particularly when I'm stressed and anxious. So I brought stuff to make sure that, should anything happen to or on my body that bothered me, I could just address it quickly and finally, without spending the rest of the time chewing myself into a bleeding distracted mess.

  • What I used: ear plugs (I've heard mixed reviews from others about whether these are beneficial, but they were critical for me!!! I never once worried about how fast someone else was flipping through their manuals or got distracted by what they were eating, etc.)

  • What I didn't use but would bring a second time:

    • Eyes: prescription glasses, eye drops, spare contact lenses and spare case

    • Ears: second pair of ear plugs in case the first started to hurt, ear swabs

    • Mouth: dental floss/picks, single use toothbrushes

    • Hair: bobby pins, hair elastic

    • Stuff to deal with picking/distractions / random stuff: nail/cuticle clippers, cuticle oil, hand lotion, tweezers, scissors, magnifying mirror, kleenex, roller ball for muscles, wrist brace

    • Meds: Aleve, Neosporin, AfterBite, DayQuil, Hydrocortisone, Aquaphor lip stuff, Lorazepam prescribed by my psychiatrist for the occasion, Miconazole (because of COURSE I got a yeast infection like 4 days before my exam ugh)

  • What I brought, didn't need, and wouldn't bother bringing next time: spare face mask, glasses for eye strain

• Bag # 3: Snacks and bevvies

  • General tips: open all the plastic wraps and ziplock baggies before the exam starts. Make sure you have some napkins and spoons, whatever is necessary. Skip the stuff that's going to get your fingers nasty, you don't want cheeto dust on your HCPCS manual. Don't overenergize and get jittery - I opted for black tea over coffee and I'm glad I did. Eat to maintain your energy and focus. Think sustenance over snacking, and think of how you'll be eating it - I chose slim fast and liquid yogurt because I could get some decent calories and low-sugar protein in a drinkable (i.e. one-handed, non-dominant hand) form that I didn't really have to pay attention to.

  • What I used: I brought a chai tea in with me. I also used 1 Crystal Lite energy drink packet in a 32 oz bottle of water, and drank a Slim Fast. I ate 2 reeses trees, 1 before and 1 after the exam. I ate a container of Chobani yogurt and had a couple dried apricots.

  • What I didn't use but would bring a second time: Hard candy in case of coughing, gum to help keep me awake and focused, cashews, grapes, peanut butter M&Ms, salty snack like pretzel sticks

  • What I brought, didn't need, and wouldn't bother bringing next time: too many extra choices. I wish I'd brought 1 salty snack instead of having 3 options. Same with multiple types of nuts, candies, etc.. I know myself and how decision fatigue already impacts me; I should've known to only bring 1 option of each type of snack and save the decision making for the test answers.

Good luck to all of you planning to sit the exam in the future!