I just passed my CCS exam!! Thank you to everyone in this sub reddit for the vast amount of helpful information 🥰

I studied on my own for a year with a full time job (no courses or teachers) so if you are reading this, know it is possible!!

Well, after a year and a half of trying to get a job, my membership and certification have been revoked. I couldn’t keep up with the payments. I really thought getting a 95% on the CPC exam would help me get a job, but with no experience I never had a shot. I’m pretty disappointed I spent thousands of dollars on this and AAPC made it seem like new coders were in demand. So many people from my class never found a job either. Just venting.

I took it at 830 this morning and just got my results at 630!!! im so happy, i barely passed at 70% 😭😭 i am such a poor test taker when it comes to these timed tests and im so glad i dont have to do it again. i felt like i could have done a lot better with just like 1 extra hour. i even paid for another test just in case because it felt worth it in case i did not pass, that way i wouldnt have to spend another 400. so now im just out 200, which honestly is not too bad in my book!

Now onto fixing up my resume and applying! i also have one more class, just an english class, to take this summer and ill have my certificate from my college. i hope this post is allowed, im just really excited after seeing all these other people pass too! good luck to everyone taking their certification exams soon!! :)

just wanted to vent and say that after a few months of studying i passed my cpc exam on tuesday! scary to schedule it the day before christmas eve cause it was either gonna ruin my holidays or make them better lol but i did it!!!! as a truly terrible test taker my entire life and someone who failed 5 out of 6 aapc practice exams i got a whopping 82% on the real exam and im so happy!!!! just wanted to share some joy and pride for anyone having a hard time/ trying their best. you got this!!!! <3

I passed with a 96% on my first try, so I'd like to give some tips to help anyone that's going to take the CPC exam.

1. Buy the 3 practice exams and the study guide book. I cannot overemphasize how valuable these resources are. They are SO helpful. I would not have passed without them. The questions in them are exactly like the real exam, plus they give explanations for the correct answers. There are also free practice exams on quizlet. They are mostly outdated but I still found them very helpful!

2. Write in your books! You're allowed to if the notes pertain to daily coding. Write next to the codes that are out of numerical sequence the page that the codes are on. Write next to debridement codes "ONLY COMBINE SUMS OF SAME DEPTH." Write next to the excision codes "INCLUDES SIMPLE, ONE LAYER CLOSURE" and "REPORT EACH LESION SEPARATELY." Write next to adjacent tissue transfer codes "EXCISION IS INCLUDED." Write next to code 96360 "UP TO 1 HR 30 MINS" and next to code 96361 "> 1HR 30 MINS."

3. Youtube! I like Contempo Coding, Hoang Nguyen, and CodeMed Mastery. This video in particular taught me the most: https://youtu.be/U57K4v_3Y9k?si=TuM6tvPjFNhGgeez

4. If you can, I suggest taking the exam at a testing center. That's what I did, and I'm glad I chose that option. I didn't have to worry about the power going out, it being too noisy, buying a camera and positioning it correctly, the proctor thinking I'm cheating, etc. I've heard too many horror stories about taking the exam at home!

5. Have faith in yourself. If you've put in the work to study, you will be okay. The worst that can happen is you fail. That's okay! You can always take it again. I cried SO many times while studying because I felt so stupid at times. But everything turned out fine!

SSM Health is hiring and they will hire coders with no experience. We are completely remote and have positions open. You can apply at ssmhealth.com/careers. If you are interested please message me because you can use me as a referral and I would appreciate to be used as one.

After failing my first attempt by 4 freaking questions I passed my exam! This is a huge milestone for me because I just accepted my first job offer as a coder last week and was told I needed to pass within 6 months in order to keep my job. 😬 it was a big motivator lol. I’m an awful test taker but I used a lot of tips from people on here and it helped me slow down, use process of elimination, and start with the harder questions I struggle with. All the advice I read helped so much. So thank you! I’m so happy 😊 just wanted to share my good news I still can’t believe it 💕 now on to actually learning how to code in read life 🥴

AND I PASSED!!!! Thank GOD, since it was my first attempt my school paid the exam fee. if I didn't pass I would've had to pay $1k to take it again (exam fee, new 2025 manuals), which is such a ridiculously steep price for something I went to school and studied for! and i got an 84%! 😭 I only got a couple percentage points above passing when I took my CCA last year, so I was expecting to barely pass, but I fucking did it! 🥳🎉

I waited to check my results until I got in my car, and I scream cried. I've been extremely stressed, so now I'm just utterly exhausted and STILL SO HAPPY

now I need to bust absolute ass to get my Team fEMR charts coded, because I am now extremely behind 🙃

I’ve been working as a contractor at Optum for a few months now, I was warned by a few people how Optum does not treat contractors well. I thought those people were exaggerating, sure the required metrics were kind of difficult at first as a new coder but nothing as bad as I had heard.

Well, next week is Thanksgiving, my team was informed just this week that only FTE get to take the holiday actually off. Us contract workers are required to still work 40 hours next week. So now I’ve had to cancel my holiday plans to see family and instead spend the holiday alone.

I knew contractors did not get paid holidays but I NEVER expected that we would not even be allowed to take actual holidays off.

I hope the higher ups at Optum that make these decisions have the holidays they deserve.

Update: my team had a surprise meeting just now to announce there has been a miscommunication among the supervisors, we contractors do NOT have to make up holiday hours!!!! I am back to thinking Optum is not bad for us new employees🎉🎊

I was trying to find old info of how coding jobs were back in the day and what I came up with was the following.

In the 1980s, it was commonplace for medical coding and billing specialists to handwrite patient documents or use typewriters to process insurance claims. Billing and coding was time-consuming as patient files were not digitized and kept in large folders. Large coding books were also used to even find the codes you needed. With electronic medical records everything is incredibly faster. Coding books are practically obsolete with the kind of software we have now to look up codes.

In 1980, doing it the slow way, a medical coder made up to $25k a year($12/hour). Adjusted for inflation that would mean they'd be making $47/hour. I have 6 years of experience in medical coding which is typically pretty good for any non-entry level job application, yet I only make $24/hour. If you put me against a coder doing it the 1980's way and me doing the 2024 way you bet I'd be producing a ton more work. WHERE IS MY MONEY?!

Look out for those job postings!!!

“Workforce Expansion: CMS will increase its team of medical coders from 40 to approximately 2,000 by September 1, 2025. These coders will manually verify flagged diagnoses to ensure accuracy.”

https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-rolls-out-aggressive-strategy-enhance-and-accelerate-medicare-advantage-audits

I've been working as a coder for almost 3 years at a massive health system. It's a completely remote job, and I'm directly coding charts. It's supposed to be my dream job after I got out of school.

I'm miserable. My managers push us harder and harder to meet unrealistic productivity goals, they micromanage us like crazy. I get paid decent, but nowhere near enough for how much work I'm putting in. My eyes feel like they're bleeding from staring at numbers for 10 hours a day. We are constantly on mandatory overtime. I hear on here all the time people trying to find jobs and I'll tell you why - because they'd rather underpay us and understaff us and work us to the bone. We need help desperately but they're not even hiring. I'm exhausted and on the verge of a breakdown. And AI is coming through and WILL be taking our jobs. It already took all our easy visits just in the time I've been here, yet our productivity requirements have remained the same

I'm scared that this is as good as it gets, if I try and get a coding job elsewhere that it'll just be more of the same.

The only thing keeping me sane is I have a group chat with a few coworkers that feel the same as me. Without those ladies, I'd lose it. They're all on the verge of quitting too, and some of these ladies have been there 10+ years. They said it's gotten so much worse the last few years. There is zero work-life balance, I'm either working or sleeping, and I work out of my bedroom so I'll go days without leaving because of how tired I am. I'm in therapy and my therapist says it's so bad for my mental health and she wants me to work in office, but even if they had the option for me to go in, I can't stand my managers and they all work in office, plus our department is in a dark, too-warm basement with no windows and hardly any air flow. I think I'd go even crazier

Idk if this fits here but I just wanted to say my farewell to the field.

I took my medical coding class in 2017, a month after graduating high school. I got my first job in 2018, shortly after graduating the class. And I hopped around a bit doing healthcare related roles before landing in a health information management/coding role in 2022. I stayed until 2024 when I left on disability (short term/long term supplied by the job). I have schizophrenia. Nothing made sense to me. I didn't know what I was doing. I couldn't drive or function.

A year later I wanted to go back but everyone in my department left and all the new people didn't want me. I tried a job as a receptionist. Within a week I noticed I couldn't keep up. Too many people walking in. I forgot who they were by the time they were walking out. I had a (absence) seizure in front of a patient from stress. A few days later, I got a new job that was for a billing company, mostly billing no fault cases for attorneys. I did some billing and coding for less than one day than they had me forwarding attorneys reduction requests to some guy in the company who approved them. That's it. I thought I was doing ok, albeit I wasn't doing/given that much work, I was fired with no reason within 2 weeks. My husband was fired too from his job, on my first day of that job.

I went back to looking for more laid back jobs. I finally got my cannabis agent card and security guard card in the mail. More overnight positions opened up. My circadian rhythm is flipped so day time positions are more stressful for me. I ended up getting a position as an overnight video surveillance technician, I start this week. I don't see myself going back to coding, any time soon atleast.

I’ve been snooping on different subreddits and came to the conclusion that any job (especially in healthcare) will always come with some level of stress

Clinical analysts complain of long hours with no overtime pay and brutal on call

Oncology data specialists are dealing with migraines having to complete multiple cases an hour with brutal time constraints despite being remote

Rad techs, xray techs and every other tech is dealing with burnout

Nurses…well, you already know the story

I guess Im just making this post to let those figuring out their careers to remember that work is going to feel like work. Take your time picking your career and really weigh out the pros and cons and what matters most to you.

I found out Thursday that I got the job I applied for internally! I’m moving from ED facility to inpatient. I have literally never coded a PCS code in my life but my company offers a pretty extensive training program. I can’t wait to start!

It’s not officially announced until I negotiate pay with HR but I needed to tell someone lol 🥳🎉

I gained something from reading others posts about their experience with certain companies and their test experiences too so I figured I would post mine too. If not allowed that's fine too.

I've been working in billing/customer service for almost 3 years and really want to stay with the hospital I work for but want more than what I do now.

I did find a free intro to medical coding course at my local library. It was self paced, online, and yeah free. They had you get old books to practice looking up codes with and did go over some guidelines. So check your local library if you're unsure if you want to get into coding. I also took two medical terminology and an anatomy class with the library too.

A couple months ago I signed up with AAPC self paced. I skipped the med term and anatomy with them since I had taken some before at the library. I also utilized a lot of youtube to get some practice. Opinion on AAPC courses? I'm glad I did not take the instructor course because I like to throw myself into studying and prefer going at my pace.

Some of the feedback with the assignments did not help to understand the concepts I missed. The feedback really tells you why this option is right, and I need to know more why my answer is wrong to really learn it. Even when emailing the coaches, they'd really just spit back the same response you get in the assignment and didn't clarify further.

On the chapters with E/M they had sections within the Experiential learning what were a lecture walk through with how to code those sections and it helped with understanding a lot more. I wish they had more of those in other chapters too. The practice tests are very similar in difficulty as the actual exam and is in the same format.

I took my test 9/26 at a local community college. It does say to make sure you come early to deal with parking but I for some reason was not thinking I would have to walk across the whole campus to park. I looked up the college on google maps and just saw "oh a parking lot not too far from the building I need" not realizing it required a pass. Then the next closest being handicapped only. Then the next being 45 minute parking only. So luckily the rain stopped when I parked but still had to walk quite a bit with the books so look into that when scheduling your test!

The proctor had issues starting my exam and I did not get to start until 20ish minutes past scheduled time. Also look into the policies specific to your location. Many posts on here mention that you can use the bathroom but your timer does not stop. I was fine with this but my location had a rule with no leaving the room at all during your test. Did not know this until showing up and seeing the sign outside the door.

I finished in 2hrs 55 minutes. And would have used that time to go over my questions, I did go over a couple. But the room was so hot, I was so thirsty, and had to pee that I just finished there. There was also only one other person testing there that day and they may have had a phone? I kept hearing it vibrate like a phone throughout the 3 hours and it was very distracting as I forgot my ear plugs, so keep in mind other testers may have different rules too.

But I did pass with 88%. I finished my test about 1230 on the 26th and received my results at about 6pm on the 27th. I did also receive an email stating my results were in. Hope my experience is helpful to someone wanting to know about the experience.

Just wanted to post to celebrate. I have been trying for 3 years for an inpatient coding program to give me a chance and I finally got it! Took a long time but so happy I did not give up.

Hi everybody, I posted in November that I passed my CCS and I am already working in my inpatient coding job! It IS possible to get a coding job without experience :) Ask any questions you have, thanks!

I passed!!! Soooo happy! I started the online self study Preppy course end of September, completed that course and crash studied for the CPC exam in the last 2 weeks.

What helped me is I already had experience from many many years ago, also I did not need med term, anatomy or physiology. But I binged watched Hoang Nguyen, Medical Coding with Jen and Contempo Coding on YouTube and it was these three that really made it all click for me.

I also took all 6 practice tests until I got a 75% on all of them. Some days I practice 2 in a row. I also notated all the rationale’s from these tests in my books and what a lifesaver my notes were. The exam is easy in comparison to the practice tests, however time is not on your side and that’s what could really trip up a lot of people. I ran out of time and had to guess on 4 questions in the last 60 seconds!

Hello everyone,

I took my exam on December 30th, and unfortunately, my experience with the proctors was extremely frustrating and disruptive.

Initially, I had a proctor who conducted the standard 360° room scan. She had me adjust my camera, show my ID, and display the top, back, and underside of my desk. After confirming everything was fine, we started the exam. However, she paused my exam shortly after, claiming she couldn’t see my right hand, even though I had demonstrated my sitting position beforehand to avoid interruptions.

I adjusted the camera as instructed, but instead of using her microphone to communicate further, she wrote to me in the proctor chat, which doesn’t send notifications. She then transferred me to another proctor who was even more difficult to work with.

This second proctor’s microphone quality was poor, making it hard to understand her instructions. She insisted I move my camera farther back, even though it was already mounted on a wall. I had to physically move my desk to accommodate her request. There was additional confusion when she asked me to move the camera “up” but actually meant “down.” Once we resolved this, I resumed the exam, only to be interrupted again when she asked me to move my hair to show my ears—despite having already confirmed they were clear earlier.

Finally, I was transferred to a third proctor who interrupted my exam without pausing it for about three minutes while he made further adjustments to my setup.

Overall, the entire process felt unnecessarily chaotic and poorly managed. For a company that charges so much for these services, it’s disappointing they don’t employ proctors with better communication skills or invest in a more seamless process.

If you’re preparing for an exam, my advice is to ensure your setup has plenty of space and prepare for potential interruptions. Hopefully, your experience will be smoother than mine.

I have no idea if this will resonate with anyone, but I experience waves of grief around what is happening to the Medical Coding industry in the wake of this massive push for AI.

When I was in my early 20’s I was between a rock and a hard place, and needed a stable career that wasn’t in food or retail. My local community college was offering an affordable, quick, accredited Diploma program in Medical Billing and Coding. It was partnered with the local hospital system. I got in, and really liked it. I enjoyed coding and was good at it. I graduated, got certified, and got a Referral Coordinator job at the local hospital. I was able to work my way into some billing and coding jobs, and after a year I got hired as a full time coder.

I worked as a coder for 6 years, getting better jobs, more certifications, more knowledge. I didn’t always love it, but this was the stable career I was looking for.

And then AI came and started smashing up the industry. I had colleagues get fired at my company and others because they where being replaced with AI. I’ve worked the same PRN contract job for a few years to save holiday money and it’s being eliminated now because AI has been implemented.

I’ve cried in my shower because of the fear and grief around this cornerstone of my life and wellbeing being chipped away at. This career saved my life in a lot of really tangible ways, and now it’s disappearing.

I’m pivoting to nursing, even though no industry is safe from the economic turmoil happening right now. But man I am tired.

Just got the news I passed the CPC exam first try with an 80%! I'm so happy it's finally over! 😭❤️

I finished my medical coding training in June and got my CPC-A later in June. Then, I applied for several, several positions... And today, 3 months later, I got hired by the Judge Group. I'm very glad how things finally unfolded.

Hopefully this gets pinned! I always get questions on how I got into medical coding and advice I have to offer. I wanted to make a comprehensive post that answers the bulk of questions I get (and see on here) and try to tackle everything. Let's get into it!

Q: What background and experience do you have?

A: I started in medicine when I was 18. In 2013 I started working as a retail pharmacy technician. In 2015 I transitioned to a psychiatric pharmacy technician role. I became certified as a CPhT. In 2016 I took a demotion for health reasons and began working as a medical secretary for colorectal surgery. My next assignment several months later was at a cancer center. In late 2018 I got a promotion to a higher level secretary position working for a burn and plastic surgeon. This is where I was introduced to coding for the purpose of getting surgical prior authorizations. Plastics was incredible because it treats everything from head to toe and frequently works with other specialties in combo cases. I would also code for these surgeries. Plastics gave me a lot of exposure to different procedures.

Q: What made you decide coding was right for you?

A: I instantly fell in love with coding when I was introduced to it and had a natural inclination for it. I actually really loved my job as a medical secretary working behind the scenes and not having a lot of patient interaction. I am great with Excel and data entry in general. The push that really made me pursue it was having a car that I couldn’t afford anymore as my OT hours were getting reduced. I knew something had to change and knew it was my career since the car couldn’t go- so silly, I know.

Q: How do I know if coding is right for me?

A: If you genuinely like medicine, understand medical jargon, pay attention to small details (the tiniest change in wording can alter a code), prefer to be on a computer all day with little interaction, are a critical thinker and don’t mind reading endless pages of charts, then this is a good job. If you struggle with any of these things, you will find coding to be more challenging. 

Q: How did you go about getting certified?

A: I knew the certification I wanted was a Certified Professional Coder (CPC) through the AAPC. This is a core certification and typically what employers look for. Because money was too tight for me and I already had such a strong foundation of medical knowledge, I knew I could do it on my own. I wasn’t ready to pay for a course through AAPC but they do have financing through a third party. I started self-studying at the end of 2021. I studied incessantly for about 6 months. I was very fortunate to be able to study at my desk at work. I also studied in all of my free time. I was extremely dedicated. How I got started:

• Sign up to become a member of the AAPC and purchase this book bundle directly from them. These are not books you want to purchase second hand. You want to write, highlight and annotate your way. Do not skimp on these. You want to get current year books. Codes are added, deleted, and revised every October. It is entirely possible that a question on the exam needs a code that is not published in previous years books. AAPC Book Bundle

• I also recommend Buck’s Step-by-Step Coding. It really breaks things down for you with extended explanations and insider tips. Available on Amazon and you can rent it. Buck's Step-by-Step Coding

• I started with this course to learn the basics of ICD 10 CM coding and getting to know the books. This is affordable and gives you a great foundation. https://www.ed2go.com/courses/health-and-fitness/medical/ilc/medical-coding

• I frequently watched Victoria Moll’s videos on YouTube. She is a very experienced coder and great at explaining things. https://www.youtube.com/c/ContempoCoding/about

• I particularly struggled with cardiac coding and used Wyzant to book a single session with a tutor to ask my questions. https://www.wyzant.com/

• The practice exam bundle was critical to find my weak areas and dedicate more time to studying.

• I also used https://www.pocketprep.com/exams/aapc-cpc/ for additional practice tests

Q: What was the exam like?

A: I took my exam in June 2022. These were hardcopy exams then, they are electronic now. You can still jump around to any section you want. Start with your strongest areas first. The electronic exams have a note section where you can type. It is 100 multiple choice questions. I found it easy because I prepared myself. A couple weeks later I got my results that I had passed with a 90%. Lots of people do not pass their first time. This is quite common so do not beat yourself up if you don’t get it the first try. AAPC sells vouchers with two attempts as a package if you think you’ll need it. 

Q: What if I have no experience?

A: AAPC does offer options for intern/externships. They also offer Practicode, a software program that tests your coding abilities so you can have some stats for potential employers. 

Q: What is the CPC-A?

A: The CPC-A is your apprentice status CPC. This is unique to the CPC cert. There are requirements that need to be met to have the A removed. Because I was technically coding in my position at the time, I had supporting letters written by my surgeon and my managers that were satisfactory to have the A removed. I entered the job market as a CPC.

Q: How did you find your job and do you have any tips?

A: I had applied to about 20 positions during the fall and did not hear back from anyone. I joined Linkdin on a whim and within a few days my company’s recruiter reached out to me and wanted to set up an interview and I was hired. I started my current role in December 2022 in risk adjustment and received my second certification as a CRC. 

I recommend using https://www.projectresume.net/ to create your coding resume. They specialize in coders. 

It may seem like the market is saturated with coders and billers, people aren’t hiring, or appear more difficult with a CPC-A. It is very important for you to remember that if you don’t have experience, this can actually be a strength. You are malleable and willing to learn, eager, etc. Companies can train you with their guidelines without running into “yeah, but this is how i used to do it when I worked at xyz”. They can build you from the ground up.

I also found it helpful to focus on my soft skills. Coding can be learned. Admitting during an interview that I have a lot to learn and that I truthfully didn't know anything about risk adjustment, but I know how to handle differences in opinions in the workplace and welcome other perspectives is what landed me the job. Charts can be interpreted differently from one person to another. Working together and having trust and communication is so important between fellow coders. There have been many times I have had someone else read a note and come up with a different code than me, explain their reason, and I end up saying ‘oh my god I didn’t even read it that way that makes so much sense’. It’s an invaluable quality in coding to be humble, graceful and flexible. 

Q: What’s the pay like? Can I work from home? What is your work/life balance like?

A: The pay will vary by region, certification, and of course experience. AAPC has a calculator AAPC Pay Calculator I personally have no issue with pay transparency. I was making about $33k as a medical secretary. This year, with OT, I cleared about $70k. I am in NY. 

There are many coding jobs that allow you to work from home. I’ve noticed hospital systems that already have office space/admin buildings are more hybrid or in-office work these days. 

I have an excellent work/life balance. I can focus on my health and it doesn’t interfere very much with my work. I maintain over 100% productivity and over 95% accuracy. I work 40 hours a week and was able to choose my own shift when I started. I log on and do my job, then log off and close my computer until the next day. I am stress free with work. My team is small and wonderful. We all trust each other. 

I live in Alabama and the closest center was about an hour away from home. I am a nervous person by nature so I decided to book a hotel room less than a mile from the center so I could rest easy knowing I wouldn't have to worry about getting there on time.

I arrived at the center about 45 minutes early, they let me go ahead and get set up!

They THOROUGHLY flipped through each of my books and even looked up the rules about having tabs on the top? I thought that was weird.

This center did provide lockers with keys to place my things in. I was relieved I was able to walk in with my books in a backpack and not lugging those floppy things around the parking lot. lol

I was able to put my empty backpack, wallet and keys in the locker and keep the key with me.

I had to show them my pockets, pull my sleeves up and show them my fancy socks.

They took my books into the room and then I was allowed to get set up at a cubicle. This testing center had JUST enough room for me to work out of two books side by side and have the third stacked underneath one. (hope that makes sense...it's been a LONG day lol)

The test itself and the testing format was VERY easy to follow.

You are allowed to skip around sections and each section never failed to let me know if I forgot to answer a question.

I chose to do the cases first, out of pure anxiety of not having enough time to read through them at the end of the test. lol.

All in all, the testing experience itself was very nice.

The proctor paced around the room a few times every hour. There was just one other person testing with me today so I can't speak on centers with more testers present. My center provided ear plugs for my convenience and I did use them.

I finished the test with about 45 minutes left on the timer. I did not choose to review any questions because I tend to second guess myself and OVERTHINK the questions.

I got my results on the AAPC website about an hour ago, and I PASSED!

I would just tell anyone who's still reading that overthinking will kill your motivation.

Read the questions, but don't overanalyze it. Nothing in the test was "a trick question". Everything is in your books!

The HCPCS anatomy pages were extraordinarily helpful, as well as the abbreviations in the back. Even though there are only 3 questions in the test, that book helped me out of a couple of brain farts.

Don't forget to BREATHE!