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Certification - you can't sit for CCS with AHIMA anymore - Meredith
Posted: Nov 14, 2013
I was going to begin AHIMA program for coding but someone told me you can't sit for CCS with AHIMA anymore. The certification I want is CPC-H or CCS. Isn't AHIMA the gold standard for coding schools?? Why can't you sit for CCS anymore and where else can I look. Our local college only offers RHIT and I am not interested in that. Local hospitals want CCS or CPC-H.
CCS is most def an AHIMA credentia -- CPC is not it is AAPC - quick google search will give you answers
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More research is recommended - sm
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You would do well to examine credentials and programs a bit more.
The CPC-H is not the equivalent of the CCS. It is not an inpatient coding credential, but a credential covering coding for outpatient procedures done in hospitals...ambulatory surgeries and so forth.
The CCS covers inpatient coding and everything else done in hospitals, including the above. The AHIMA online course does not contain all the courses required to qualify for the CCS or CCS-P exams, but you could qualify by experience, after you got some. Some other programs qualify. Some AHIMA-accredited HIT programs offer coding; some of those qualify.
If you are basing your choice on an insistence that you want to work only in hospitals, you are setting yourself up for doom. There are far, far fewer jobs in hospitals than elsewhere, so your chances of getting hired are lower. It would give you more opportunities to get the CPC and then the CCS. You could get the CPC-H along with those.
Just do more research to get all the facts first.
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