Basics of Certified Professional Coder (CPC)

As a professional, I always thought of choosing a field that will give me a bright future. Now, when I talk about future, one has to understand that things change very fast with time. Why I am mentioning this because when we look back in past, we see us in a different world. Now, what changes with time is the technology. You will slowly come to know what we are going to discuss here. Now, I have already shared previously how medical coding can be a great career for every professional. In addition, I have shared about the how one can be a professional medical coder without taking any training. You can also check my previous post about the certification exams in medical coding and the tips and technique to clear those exam mainly CPC.  The first basic certification exam appeared by any medical coder is CPC (Certified Professional Coder). Now, if you visit AAPC and AHIMA website , the main organizations which conduct exams for Healthcare professional, especially AAPC you can see every month how many coders are getting certified. If you are AAPC member, you can easily check number of Apprentice CPC-A, CPC, CIRCC etc certified coders every month. Therefore, the main issue to talk here is the competition and the growth of a Certified Coder.

Do have AHIMA credential as well

Having a CPC certification is good as a beginner, but to survive in this competitive world one should opt for AHIMA credential as well. From my personal experience, I have seen AHIMA credential like CCS certified coders are given more importance than CPC coder. The only difference here is being a CPC you are having the skills to coder in outpatient setting. But, being a CCS certified you have the skills to code in both outpatient and inpatient setting. I have already discussed in detail how to appear and clear for Medical coding certification exams. CCS exam is very tough compared to CPC. If you are really serious for CCS or even CPC do have healthy coding experience. CCS is especially for professional who have healthy experience in coding inpatient setting. Hence, CCS certified coder has lot of potential in Medical coding.

Technology versus Knowledge

Now, with the use of software for coding, the coder work is little decrease. Computer assisted coding (CAC) application like Alife has arrived  to increases the production and quality in medical coding. Now, with the use of this software, the codes have been automatically generated and the codes are almost around 90 to 95% correct especially for outpatient setting. So, if you are having only outpatient setting knowledge, if future your work will be done by these CAC applications. Hence, you knowledge will be limited and you have to learn other setting like inpatient. So, if will be very nice if we prepare yourself for other certification exams as well to learn and grow in this field.