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Question about AAPC's CPC course - Jen

Posted: Jul 07, 2013

So I've been thinking about the big transition from MT to coding myself. Has anyone done the AAPC's CPC course and if so, did you find the instructors helpful and that the course was beneficial? Did you find that employers accepted it as a good training program when you applied for a job? One thing I'm concerned about is that I don't see on their course where they are including anything about ICD-10 training. You would think since it's so close they'd go ahead and offer that in the training now. I know Career Step has a little added training program about ICD-10 for their students now. Sure seems like AAPC would. Or maybe they do and i just missed it. Thanks!

Where I am employed . . . . - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
Where you go to school does not figure into the equation. You have to either be certified with a CPC or CCS. If you hold either of those certifications it is assumed that you are qualified to be a coder. I wish there was more emphasis put on ICD-10 too, but our coders are training on it on the job.

Okay sooo - Jen

[ In Reply To ..]
Thanks for the response! I just hear people saying this school stinks or that one is great. So just to make sure I understand it correctly, when I finish the course I can take the CPC exam and if I pass then I have CPC-A credentials right? Then I have to work for so long before I'm just a CPC and get the "A" removed? There's so much info out there and it's hard to sort through it all. I've been trying to find one of the coding supervisors at my hospital to ask all these questions but they don't work the same the shifts I do and mostly they work from home so I'm not having any luck there.

E-mail? - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
Does the coding supervisor have e-mail? The other thing you could do is leave a voice mail message and have her/him return your call.

Yep - Jen

[ In Reply To ..]
Yeah I am going to try but you know it's just better when you can talk to someone in person so they can see who you are, that you're not some crazy monster person and that you already work here in the hospital.

I find that to be a rather odd statement - former coder auditor

[ In Reply To ..]
to describe yourself. I went through the AAPC classes (on-site locally) and passed the CPC and found employment immediately. My situation was different than yours in that I had a prior history of managing a coding/billing office before the AAPC existed. My suggestion would be not to refer to yourself in derogatory terms. Coding is not for the thin-skinned or faint of heart. Showing confidence in yourself will serve you well in your coding endeavors. Best of luck to you.

Explanation - Jen

[ In Reply To ..]
It was a joke. Geezum pete, where's the sense of humor around here? I was in no way referring to myself in a derogatory way. If you've been in management then you know that people will often just call off the street and ask about jobs and don't have any skills or training and are not someone you'd want to hire. I was just saying that it would make more of a professional impact to be able to speak with someone in person. I don't know how you got that I was downing myself by saying that. Lighten up!

I ask that question often myself. nm - Wondering where the humor went

[ In Reply To ..]
Nm

Jen, humor is few and far between on this board - PJ

[ In Reply To ..]
A while back I asked a question about why a person would be overlooked when applying for a coding job and had a "friendly" and "bubbly" personality and I was jumped on telling me that they want someone who basically is serious and no-nonsense. It seems that coding is too serious of a job to waste time with any type of personality. I'm not being sarcastic, but I am a person who takes their work seriously, but I also don't like to come off as stale and no sense of humor. So, I'm afraid I might be overlooked in an interview. Good luck to you, Jen. :)

Jen - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
Call the hospital coding department and leave a message telling them who you are, or send an e-mail to her identifying yourself and telling her that you are considering a coding program and would like her thoughts. The coders and coding managers that I know are usually willing to share; you also might need a mentor later on. My thought is that since you both have different schedules, maybe you can make an appointment to meet so that you can get your questions answered. I am assuming that the coding manager must have an office somewhere at the facility in addition to being home based.

I agree with that - RHIA

[ In Reply To ..]
I agree with speaking to her in person. That enables you to establish good rapport in addition to getting your question answered.

There can, in fact, be some reluctance to discuss career information with unknown persons, especially in writing. This is due to the risk of what you wrote being held up later as evidence of discrimination or that you promised them a job if they did a certain thing. Plus, so much is required to produce an adequate answer that most people will blow you off.

Many supervisors do not actually know much about this other than what they, themselves, did. Because of the complexity of the options, you stand a very good chance of getting misinformation. As well, you may do what they tell you only to find that they don't work there when you need a job and their replacement has different views.

It is really better to ask someone in your facility - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
Some facilities definitely want you to take a course that is AHIMA-approved. It seems to vary a good bit.

Answers - Experienced CCS, CCS-P. CPC, CPC-H

[ In Reply To ..]
AAPC courses, whether their own or offered elsewhere using their materials, take only a few months. That is because they teach only what you need for outpatient coding, either in a physician's office (CPC) or for ambulatory care in a facility (CPC-H). They do a brief overview of med terms, cover ICD-9 very fast and spend most of their time on CPT procedure coding. They do not cover anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, reimbursement & billing, or inpatient coding, including no ICD-9 procedure coding at all.

I can just about promise you that someone will challenge that, but the course does not contain appreciable amounts of that material. That is why the AAPC is now offering separate courses in A&P, billing and reimbursement, and medical terminology. If you took every course they offer, you would still have less than a college or Andrews.

That is not to say that the course is not useful. If you want to do that kind of coding, it will get you there. It is a very fast way to get started in coding. It can be very good if you are already working in coding-related areas. There is a 25% unemployment rate for newly certified CPC-As, though that is probably not too bad considering the economy. It is better than what is being seen even in nursing right now.

As for employer acceptance, it depends on the employer. In outpatient settings, there is no question about acceptance. That is what the AAPC focuses on and most employers know only about it and may have it themselves. Inpatient (hospital) settings may or may not accept it. They may prefer AHIMA credentials if they can get them or they may not care which you have. My advice would be to avoid limiting yourself to hospitals, since there are far fewer jobs available there, especially if you have no experience.

I do not know if the online version has a high drop rate or low pass rate on the exam.

As for ICD-10, I am wondering why you feel teaching it now would be necessary or even desirable. If you are taking a 3-month course, wouldn't you expect to work in 3 months? Don't you need ICD-9 to do that? ICD-10-CM is all you need for the CPCs, and not even the inpatient rules for that, and getting accustomed to it is a simple matter of about 4 hours. Considering that there is still a year to go and implementation of it is not yet certain, what would be the point in spending time confusing the issue -- and I do mean confusing you -- with something you do not need now, cannot use now, might never need, certainly are not going to remember, and could just about pick up by reading a pamphlet? Really, the only reason is on the part of schools that are using scare tactics to sell their products.

Thanks a bunch! - Jen

[ In Reply To ..]
Thanks. I think I'm not the only one who appreciated your post. I'm sure lots of others have wondered some of the same things. As for ICD-10, I'm not necessarily taking a three-month course. Just looking into different ones right now. It's just all I've been hearing about lately and so that's just why I was wondering. I was concerned that if I'm looking for a job, say, six months from now and that puts me around the first of 2014, and they are supposed to switch to "10" in that year, then an employer may not want to hire me with no training on it. But what the heck do I know..that's just why I'm here, trying to get as much knowledge as I can from you guys.

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