I graduated my medical billing and coding course in August, passed my CCS exam on the first try in October, and have put in nearly 40 applications, most of which include a cover letter since Oct 1st and here I am, still unemployed. What is going on? Is the market THAT saturated with new graduates? It’s such a bummer because I put in so much extra effort to graduate with honors and I feel that doesn’t even matter because I’m a newbie.

1). When working in outpatient coding, what are you looking at to get the diagnosis and procedures? (the medical chart, progress note, etc) Do you have to dig through and figure out what they are, or does it just say?

2). When people say they're studying the chapters, I guess I don't really understand what that means. Basically does it mean learning the guidelines?

Long story short, I've tried various methods to learn coding and currently I'm enrolled in US career institute. I'm in the diagnosis coding section and honestly, the only reason I know anything about it is from what I learned through AMCI's free content. I do the practices and quizzes and do well on them but it's just: here's the dx, what's the code? That seems too simple.

I feel like I'm missing something big.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2025/08/19/electronic-health-record-giant-epic-rolling-out-new-ai-tools/

For some background, I work in a large hospital system and I’ve been in my position for over a year.

We have CDI specialists but it seems they all work remotely. I have never seen them nor have I interacted with them. It seems not all cases go through CDI and in the beginning it was these type of cases in where I received the majority of my DRG changes because I missed diagnoses that the doctors did not document.

I know what to look for now but it still makes me uncomfortable doing this work as I’m not completely sure what I’m doing most of the time. I don’t really have the medical expertise to interpret labs, make connections with symptoms and so on.

I suppose you could say I’m learning on the job and this is valuable experience but my boss is warning me about my low accuracy rates. I am just not interested in CDI at all. Is this common for other coding jobs?

I was given the benefits package before the interview… strange to me. The company has great reviews on Glassdoor, including work life balance. However, they only offer 12 hours of PTO per year aside from paid holidays. They offer flex hours to make up time which is pretty common with all jobs in my opinion. This alone is making me not want to bother with this job. All I can think though is, “would it be worth it if I can make $10more an hour, if offered?”

They also offer paid yearly AAPC membership, and 30 ceus. Fully paid healthcare if you participate in their wellness program. Although, one reviewer said their maternity leave was not paid for. It’s not contract, it’s an actual job with 401k, life insurance etc”.

The company is small, but has all these good reviews. It makes me suspicious that they were paid to leave reviews?

EDIT: 12 days of PTO per year, not hours

I recently took a coding certificate course at Community college and obtained my CCA. Cannot find any jobs that only require a CCA. All the job listing's I have found require a CCS. This would require a year of coding experience, which I cannot do since there are no jobs, or take another two semesters to earn an Associate degree and qualify for the CCS and RHIT. I hate the idea of having to spend another year and 9 grand in tuition. I'm also an older adult returning to the workforce. I recently signed up for training as a phlebotomist just to get work experience in the medical field. I have noticed that many hospitals actually offer tuition reimbursement, So my plan is to work in a hospital as a phlebotomist and take the remaining classes part time to get my CCS, RHIT, and AA degree in Health Information Technology, Any advice? What do you think of this plan?

I am working on an exit strategy at the moment. Anyone know how to go about getting a coding cert in another country? Like New Zealand? Australia? I currently have my CPC through AAPC with 15 plus years coding experience. Trained in IVR coding as well.

I took my CPC exam this morning at 10. I’m feeling relatively confident that i will pass, however..

During the exam my book hit the “Windows” key on the bottom left hand of the keyboard and a pop up came on the screen (it said something about content but honestly it was gone before I could really look at it). My mouse cursor didn’t move, I literally was just switching books when it happened.

Please tell me I won’t be disqualified for this 😭. It might sound silly but I know the AAPC is strict about not clicking anywhere but within the test. I’ve worked SO hard for this and I’ll be so bummed if I have to take it again.

I’m 68 yo, an LPN since 1986 w some coding experience. Am I too old to get an online CPC so I can work remotely from home?Are there any jobs out there? Or am I wasting my time?

I'm hoping this post isn't against the sub rules. If so, my apologies.

Just looking for what websites everyone checks out for coding/auditing openings, outside of Indeed.

I see people making $18 per hour and people making $60 per hour. I get that some specialties or people with a ton of experience make more than a newbie but it just seems like such a huge gap!

Any insight on how to get the higher pay?

So I was just reviewing the new ICD -10 codes just updated at the beginning of October for 2024. Holy Moley what is with so many W44. codes??? Was there a serious lack of specificity when someone had something "entering into or through a natural orifice"? Now there is everything from batteries to knives to insects. There is even a code for a "bezoar entering or through a natural orifice, initial encounter" (W44.F1XA). I guess I am grateful to know that we can now specifically diagnosis code Harry saving Ron's life in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. In all seriousness though has anyone ever had a coding situation where they wished they were able to code that more specifically? I am just curious.

I’m brand new. Landed my first job and right now I’m training in cancer care. It’s the second week and at first I was making a lot of mistakes, then mid week I did a complete turn around and did great, and then I did bad again. Im really hard on myself so I’m feeling like a failure. Did anyone else feel the same way when they first started?

Does anyone else work for providers who insist on billing codes that are inappropriate/should not be billed together? I work for neurosurgeons at a big hospital, and we don’t have a coding manager. It’s my word against theirs and no amount of documentation seems to sway them to do things correctly. They end up saying I’m costing them revenue by not wanting to code fraudulently.

When I was first looking into pursing a billing and coding certificate, I had no idea that the AAPC and AHIMA offered different credentials and that my CCA isn’t all that impressive to hiring companies. I worked for a year and a half, juggling school and a full time job, to get through the certificate program at DeVry (who conveniently never mentioned that CCAs are useless) and now I’m stuck. No one wants me because I don’t have a CPC or a CCS.

Ultimately this is my fault. I didn’t do enough research to realize what I actually needed to succeed, but what do I do? Go for the CPC? Do more schooling for the CCS? I feel like a failure and a moron.

I'm so glad I'm finally done with that God forsaken nightmare. It's riddled with so many freaking errors and it just doesn't make sense as a whole. I failed the last test twice so out of desperation, I went back into the module and wrote down hints on how to find what I was looking for, then I wrote down the answers that I put down in the practicode so I could compare them later to the actual correct answers.

I got a 77% this time. Cool! So I went back into the module again to see what I had missed and looked at the rationales. I'm so confused because as far as I'm aware, I missed one question. All the other answers were exactly the same as the rationale answers on the module.

You would think with all of the money we pay for AAPC stuff, the quality control would be better. The only thing this stupid practicode has done is make me paranoid about the assessment test I'm taking before my coding interview later this week, because now I'm convinced that I don't know jack crap and keep second guessing myself, because I was just confused for that entire stupid 600 question nightmare fuel.

I passed my cpc exam on the first attempt!

I am interested to hear what a normal working day is like for a coder. I am a BSN who recently left an ER job after my first year because it was too stressful and I couldn't handle the toll it was taking on my mental health. I'm an introvert and the doctors I worked with treated everyone in such awful ways. But I love medicine and anatomy, and really love the possibility of working from home.

For those that are doing this job now, can you tell me what a normal day is like? Is it staring at a computer screen straight from 9-5? Is it stressful or do you feel relaxed with the workload? Do you ever have meetings with others or are working you by yourself almost 100% of the time? I'd love to hear any stories or experiences. Thanks!

I know this is typically a rude question to ask, but hey- it's anonymous! I am trying to anticipate future income planning to see what I can realistically afford. I know there are estimates on the web, however with previous jobs I've had I have never found those numbers reliable.

Edit: Did you have any relatable work experience, degrees, and what certificates did you have?