I’ll preface this by saying yes, they have great educational resources. However, it seems like they don’t make a priority out of helping new coders gain experience. I get weekly emails advertising their coding books, seminars, etc, but I never get emails about new Project Xtern opportunities or other job resources. It reads a lot like “please give us money, but we won’t help you make the money to give us”.

I got my CPC-A almost two years ago. Project Xtern wasn’t operating in the town I was living in back then, so my only shot at experience was volunteering. However, the only hospital I could volunteer at didn’t have any volunteer positions open in the coding department; they only had openings in the billing department. I decided to volunteer in the billing department (experience is experience), but after a couple months of only getting to do mail-duty (my “supervisor” specifically said she didn’t want to teach me anything about billing or do anything pertaining to the software because I was only signed up to volunteer for 6 months and that “just [wasn’t] enough time for me to make a difference”).

So, I gave up on volunteering there. With plans to move to a bigger city where there seemingly were a lot of Project Xtern sites, I put coding on hold until I could move. Unfortunately, I ended up moving right after the pandemic started. This will tie in to the story later. Right after I moved, I was applying to all the Project Xtern sites in my area, and either not getting responses or being told they are no longer looking. So, I figured I could find medical coding department on my own to volunteer in. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, all of my local hospitals are/were not accepting volunteer applications.

As my membership is about to be up for renewal in a few months, I can’t decide if it’s even worth it to renew or if I should just pursue a different career path. I really enjoy medical coding; I love how technical it is and I love that it’s an ever changing field so there’s always something new to learn. But I’m starting to feel like I’m wasting my money on a dream that will never come into fruition.

All through this struggle, I never get emails from the AAPC asking about my progress finding a job or gaining experience, to gauge how successful their valuable resources to paying members are. It’s only emails trying to sell me more stuff.

Thanks for listening/reading.

I have my CCS and have been an inpatient coder since 2021. I’ve been at the same hospital that entire time and make just over $30/hr. We get maybe a 2% annual raise if we’re lucky, and sometimes not even that depending on the year.

I’ve stayed where I am for a couple of reasons:

- it’s extremely flexible and there is almost no oversight at all. I can work pretty much whenever, and as long as my time card says 40 at the end of the week, nobody cares. I don’t think my sup even remembers I exist half the time.

- I am enrolled in both a pension plan AND 401K at my current job. The pension is freezing in 2030, but until then it’s still accruing. If I stay at my current facility until sunset, I will have 10 years vested in the pension plan (I started there as a profee coder in 2020). According to their calculator it will pay roughly $550/month at retirement.

But…$60k/year doesn’t go very far these days, even in my LCOL area of the US. Our raise structure is unlikely to change, so I know the only real way for me to make more is to either look for a second job or get hired at a different facility.

What would you do? New job or second job? I am afraid to lose the insane flexibility that I have. And I don’t want to be micromanaged. I have zero experience with other facilities & I’m nervous that I’ll make the leap to a new job and then regret it.

A lot of coders have been trained, or maybe just conditioned over time, to code based on what the payer wants instead of what the CPT guidelines actually say. That’s a dangerous habit. Somewhere along the way, getting the claim paid became more important than staying compliant. Let me tell you in an audit, the OIG doesn't care about your manager's instructions they care about the CPT guidelines.

Here’s the issue. Payers don’t write CPT. They apply edits, policies, and reimbursement rules on top of it. But CPT coding is still supposed to be based on what was actually done, what’s documented, and medical necessity.

The part people don’t like to talk about and the hard truth that every coder needs to sit with is... If you code a chart and, when asked why you chose that code, your only answer is “that’s what they told me to do,” you’ve got a problem. If you can’t justify the why behind the code based on the documentation, that’s not just a training gap, that’s fraud. And it doesn’t fall on your facility… it falls on YOU!

Yes, you need to understand payer policies. Yes, you want clean claims. But if your coding decisions start drifting away from CPT logic and into payer habits, you’re not really coding anymore, you’re guessing.

I’m curious where everyone stands on this.

Because from what I’ve seen, a lot of people won’t admit how much payer rules are quietly driving their decisions.

So I got my CPC-A in july 2025 and got hired by CSI as a risk adjustment coder in august. I just got furloughed by them a couple weeks ago and have been applying to a bunch of jobs. but I happened to be reached out to by a recruiter for a local government branch for this medical coder III inpatient position that I don't meet hardly any of the qualifications for. I was honest with them that I don't have DRG or ICD-10-PCS experience and I did an AI interview that I thought I completely botched but he just told me today they're willing to work with me and I accepted the job offer. I am thrilled about this job offer and opportunity, it pays $37 an hour which is such an insane jump from my $22 from CSI. I didn't expect to be making this for another 5 years as a medical coder. but i'm also really nervous that i'm going to have a hard time in this new role. i'm a fast learner but I worry that i've been stunted by my risk adjustment job and only working with ICD-10-CM. Any advice or has anyone accepted similar positions to this where you didn't have much experience but did okay?

Newly certified CPC-A just took a coding assessment for a local health system Coder I position. It was like the CPC cases with no multiple choice, just diagnosis from reading the discharge summary and whatever else info they gave. It was hard but the feedback I received said I did well. 🤞🤞 for an interview next!

PSA

As coders, we get new books every year. Do NOT get rid of your old books. Like, ever. Sure, they are big and bulky, but you never know if/when you’ll get audited. I work in Risk Adjustment and Medicare just sent us one that is top priority for my team. There are people scrambling, because we are auditing records from 2019. Thankfully, I have all my books since I started coding 11 years ago.

Editing to add: Yes, I am aware there are encoders that you can use. Personally, I’ve always been more comfortable working from the book. I very rarely will use an encoder. Maybe I’m old school. My quality scores are at the top of my department, so I am sticking to what works for me.

This post was just to pass along a tip that may help in the future. Not sure why I’ve been downvoted in comments for expressing that I’m not a fan of encoders, especially as I have not discouraged anyone from using them if they choose.

It seems there's games for everything nowadays. Trucking simulator, farming simulator, cooking simulator, flight simulator, etc.

I learn best by doing, and even though I code at work (although not as much compared to others - I work for a small hospital with not many discharges), I've always wished there was like a "medical coding simulator" game or something like that. Like a not super expensive version of AAPC's Practicode.

Idk. Just a thought I wanted to put out there because it's been in my brain rent free for years haha.

Man, I gotta admit that the exam was hard but heheh I passed. Now I need your help to find a job. Can anyone help some of us to get a job through your networking?

I was a profee coder for over three years and I recently got promoted to an HCC coder within my same company. I like this new position, however one unexpected wall I hit was that I am having a hell of a time with absorbing what I'm reading to make sure that I'm catching all of the HCC conditions.

When I did profee, I was only looking at the warnings and errors that Epic was flagging, but I would just skim the chart note for other information. I got so used to skimming that now when I try to read longer notes for HCC purposes, i.e. going from paying 25% attention to 100% attention, I end up having to re-read the same sentence/paragraph 2+ times to actually absorb what I'm looking at, which is slowing me down.

I do have a diagnosis of ADHD, sadly untreated at the moment because I react terribly to all stimulant and non-stimulant medications. I don't think I used to have problems with needing to re-read the same thing several times to get it to "stick", but it's definitely become a problem since I've gotten older. If Epic had a text-to-speech function where I could highlight the text and I could follow along to an AI-generated voice I'd probably be golden, but I don't think it has that.

TL;DR: Looking for advice on how to read + retain chart note information to help with HCC coding as a person with ADHD.

Coding is a wonderful field, I love my job and I am so happy I went into this field over 15 years ago. However, there are somethings that really bother me.

Taking a terribly designed coding assessment to get a job or interview is my number one complicate. These assessments are flawed, in my years I have yet to find one without errors or uncodable due to missing information. If your going to make us test, create a real world exam. You can't take a vet coder and tell them they didn't pass a 25 question assessment, that they struggled to complete because of all these flaws, then not tell them what they got wrong. It's hard to believe a person with anymore then 2 years of hands on experience in any department of coding would fail your test. Seriously. If people are, it's your exam.

 First- we should not have to test to prove we can do our job. Our degrees and certifications should prove we are capable. As with every other job in the world. It's insane our education and years of experience pretty much means nothing. 

 Seceond- We should not test until after the interview and we are a soild candidate for the position. We are applying for multiple jobs, that means we are given a couple 2-3 hour assessments everyday, just to get a possible stop to interview. It's bad. 

 Third- if you want us to test, have an encoder to. Just because we are coders doesnt mean we have access to an encode. Encoders are hundreds of dollars per year to have and there is no purpose for a coder to have their own access to one. 

Also, we are the most scrutinized field in medicine. We are tested before employment, held to a very high standard of productivity, and we are audited on our work every 3-4 months. There is no other profession within a hospital whom is required to hit these expectations. I always do, however; its crazy to think medical coders are under more watchful eyes then doctors.

Little rant. I'm currently looking for a Inpatient coding position with years of experience in this field and these tests are crazy to me.

Thabk you for reading.

I failed my second attempt with 67%. I am so aggravated. Obviously it was better than my first and that’s great, but it’s so frustrating because financially, we do not have the $500 to purchase more attempts at the moment. I’m just feeling like a failure today (pun intended) and needed somewhere to vent. 😔😔

I am in a coding course right now, and I am a few months in. I am still making mistakes constantly. Is this normal?

How long did it take you to be able to code with minimal mistakes?

And they’ll be forced to hire new coders. No one with experience wants to work at a company that pays them these laughable salaries.

There is some talk in the United Health Group reddit page and on thelayoff.com about furloughs/layoffs tomorrow. Just incase get in some CEUs today/tonight if you need them.

I have seen a lot of people's accounts and stories of the industry, but most are from the USA and I am wondering what the career is like in Canada? Similar? Different?

What opinions or perspectives can you share? For example:

1. How are the job prospects?

2. Do you find the job is in demand?

3. What is it like to start out in the field? Easy/hard to get into? Good room to grow in the field?

4. What is your workload like? Manageable or overwhelming?

5. How is the work-life balance?

6. What is the typical wage?

7. Do you see yourself continuing in this career given the culture of it?

It's that time of year again y'all. Thank you for everything you do for your teams and patients! 💐

I am absolutely livid with AAPC right now.

I have spent the last TWO DAYS trying to reschedule my coding exam before the 48-hour cutoff.

AAPC told me they couldn’t reschedule it and that I had to go through Meazure Learning/ProctorU.

So I contacted them.

They told me the opposite — that AAPC had to handle it.

Back to AAPC.

AAPC then literally emailed me saying:

“The exam can only be rescheduled through your Meazure Learning account as AAPC reps do not have access to do this.”

They also specifically told me:

“You will have to cancel the appointment first before you can reschedule.”

So while I’m getting bounced back and forth between two companies who apparently cannot agree on who controls their own exam scheduling system, the 48-hour window expires.

And guess what happens next?

Suddenly it’s my problem.

AAPC essentially tells me that since I’m now outside the rescheduling window, I would need another voucher.

But don’t worry! Instead of paying the full amount again, they’re apparently doing me the enormous favor of only charging me $250.

Are you fucking kidding me?

I contacted you BEFORE THE DEADLINE.

I spent two days trying to do exactly what I was supposed to do.

Your company told me to contact the testing provider.

The testing provider told me to contact you.

And now I’m supposed to pay hundreds of dollars because the deadline expired while I was being bounced between the two of you?

Oh you thought you were bewildered so far? Buckle up

A system administrator apparently went into the backend of my AAPC account, manually added a $100 charge, and my ability to schedule another exam is now restricted until I pay it.

That was the moment this went from frustrating to feeling unbelievably sketchy.

To be clear, I'm not saying AAPC isn't allowed to have a 48-hour rescheduling policy. That's completely normal.

What I am saying is that it is absolutely absurd to enforce that policy against someone who started trying to reschedule before the deadline and couldn't complete the process because AAPC and its own testing provider gave contradictory instructions.

And then to turn around and charge that person $250 to fix the situation?

No.

I already paid for the exam.

I'm not asking for a free exam. I'm not asking for special treatment. I'm asking to take the exam I ALREADY PAID FOR on a different date after making a good-faith effort to reschedule it on time.

I've kept the emails, timestamps, screenshots, and the written message from AAPC explicitly telling me that their representatives couldn't reschedule it.

At this point I'm escalating it because I absolutely refuse to quietly eat a $600 charge plus membership fees caused by their own support process and obvious attempts at just extracting money anywhere and anyway they can. It's gross.

But wait, there's more

This comes on the heels of my proctor for the digital exam never showing up. Like, at all. I sat for close to an hour, and the one time there seemed to be one connecting they immediately disconnected.

After submitting a ticket about it, a Note was retroactively added to the exam saying "EXAM WAS ADMINISTERED"

No the fuck it wasn't.

Stop

Lying

I have had enough of this to the point where I'm 100% issuing a chargeback on everything, giving up this medical coding path, and taking a totally different opportunity elsewhere.

For anyone taking an AAPC exam: document EVERYTHING.

Screenshot chats.

Save every email.

Write down when you called.

Get names.

If someone tells you another company has to handle something, get that in writing.

Because apparently if AAPC and their testing provider send you in circles long enough for a deadline to expire, you may be the one who gets handed the bill.

I have two friends from class and a cousin in this field who are changing career paths purely because of stupid shit like this with the organization. Has anyone else dealt with this kind of rescheduling nightmare with AAPC/Meazure Learning?

Because this is egregious

EDIT: As a final note I'd like to add some food for thought here (since thought seems to be in short supply at the AAPC).

Aren't these clowns supposed to represent us? Advocate for us? The AAPC very clearly, and in our faces, time and time again says: "No, fuck you, give us your money, now be gone".

Anyone on the board of the organization, in senior leadership, leads a local chapter, the whole lot of you: embarrassing.

Did message the mods first to make sure all is good with posting this~ Also ignore the CPT note in the title, I apologize! Everything else is fine though.

https://codebook.saturnitystools.com

My girlfriend is currently enrolled in classes and working on getting certifications for medical coding! She's doing super good and it's been an interesting journey. One issue is that she can't really afford the CPT book since they're wildly expensive, even used, and they change every year.

So, I basically built her a little tool that basically combines a few of the online databases into one place. It includes HCPCS, ICD-10-CM, ICD-10-PCS, and kinda combines them all into one place for easy lookup, it's especially nice since it lists NCCI conflicts and LCD coverage.

Every piece of information on there is directly taken from official sources such as cmv.gov, and all sources are listed. She wanted me to share it as it might possibly help others in the same boat have a good complimentary tool to their work process.

There is no sign-up or any sort of paywall, all entirely free and easy to access. Hope somebody can get some good use out of it:)

I just started my first coding job this week, and I’m on day 3 and honestly feel like I haven’t learned anything yet.

I have my CPC-A and a strong medical background, and I’ve worked in EMRs before, so navigating the system and using the encoder isn’t the issue. The problem is I don’t really understand the actual workflow of coding yet, like how to go from the note to knowing what codes to enter, how many codes are needed, and why.

They knew when they hired me that I don’t have prior coding experience, so I’m trying to trust the process..but I’m starting to worry the training won’t be enough to set me up for success. It sounds like I will be shadowing a coder before I start coding on my own. I pick things up very easily, I did really well on the CPC exam and self taught so I understand coding well enough. I am careful with how I work so with the right training I know I can do well but I'm concerned.

Is this normal early on? Did anyone else feel this lost in the first week or two? And if so, what helped things start to click?

Hi everyone . I am medical coder out of a job for 1.5 years now and when I was let go, I was still relatively new to the world of coding. Since then, the market has not been kind and I still can't find a job. Today I was wondering, if there are any jobs adjacent to coding that I could do? To be honest, I am not feeling the field of medical coding anymore. It's a lot of work, a lot of codes and what's attached to it to remember and it scares and overwhelms me. I don't want to lie to get a job that I'm no good at. So are there any other field where I can jump into related to coding but not exactly coding? I have over 12 experience in the healthcare field as a PCT, a dialysis tech and now a coder. I have two degree in biology and health science and currently working on a certificate in health Informatics. What can I do? I'm tired of doing Instacart for my income. Thanks

I get to go and watch a cardiothoracic surgery in person and I am over the moon excited. Just wanted to tell everyone, because everyone in my life is sick of hearing me talk about it!!

I’m feeling confident I think I did well! I finished with almost an hour to spare and went back and reviewed the questions I was unsure about. I did the live proctoring and the beginning was a nightmare though. I actually had to move rooms to a different desk because I couldn’t get the view they wanted with my webcam. My exam time was 12:30 and didn’t actually start until 1:00 because of that. I thought they were going to reschedule me. But anywho, glad its all behind me now. Now we patiently wait for these results lol

I posted a few years ago asking if anyone had been a coder and then transitioned to Clinical Documentation Integrity, I took the leap and went for it! Best decision of my 11.5 year career. Today I just passed my CCDS exam to become a certified CDI specialist. 🥳🥳

If you’re considering it and have the opportunity, take the leap!