What Does a Medical Coder Do?

A certified professional coder reviews clinical documentation and translates medical procedures, diagnoses, supplies, and services into codes that are submitted on a medical claim to payers for reimbursement. CPCs need a good grasp of medical terminology and anatomy to understand medical charts and abstract important information. They serve a vital role in the financial well-being of their employing organization and indirectly influence patient outcomes through accurate medical coding.

Why Certify

By certifying as a medical coder, you are beginning your journey towards an in-demand career within the healthcare industry. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, medical coding is one of the fastest-growing professions in the nation. Additionally, certified medical coders typically earn 20 percent more than non-certified coders.

Launch Your Career With the CPC® Exam

The Certified Professional Coder (CPC) exam is the conclusive step to attaining CPC certification—renowned throughout the world of healthcare as the gold standard for physician-based medical coding. Bypassing the CPC exam and earning the right to append the CPC acronym to your name, you become a healthcare business professional recognized for reliable mastery of professional-fee medical coding.

Passing the CPC Exam Unequivocally Demonstrates to Employers that you Possess:

• Expertise in assigning accurate medical codes for diagnoses, procedures, and services performed by physicians and other qualified healthcare providers in the office, as well as professional-fee coding as it pertains to facility settings (e.g., inpatient hospital)

• Sound knowledge of coding guidelines and regulations to meet compliance requirements, such as establishing medical necessity, using modifiers appropriately, and observing bundling rules

• Proficiency across a wide range of services, including E/M, anesthesia, surgery, radiology, pathology, and medicine

• A thorough grasp of anatomy, physiology, and medical terminology to comprehend clinical documentation and code descriptors

• Understanding of how to integrate medical coding and payment policy changes into a practice's reimbursement processes

What You Will Gain

• Experience faster than you would with an on-the-clock job

• Code from hundreds of real medical records redacted for HIPAA compliance

• Receive immediate feedback to learning specialty-specific intricacies only real coding experts know

• Get the confidence you need to hit a home run in your next job interview

• Remove your apprentice "A"

• Increase your value to employers

• Code immersive real-world cases

• Coding confidence

• You will then be placed in our job assistance program, where we introduce you to the industry and help with obtaining employment

How it Works

The iCode Xperience is an online, rapid experience generation tool designed to teach and test medical coding proficiency using real, redacted medical records concentrated on the top hiring medical specialties. Quickly learn and apply new skills and gain experience that you can apply to a new job or advance your career. The iCode Xperience helps coders with every level of experience, from a new professional to a tenured veteran. Get real-world experience coding a variety of medical records or try our specialty modules.

Furthermore, the externship is web-based, allowing new medical coders to gain confidence in coding 660 cases in a variety of specialties. Complete the program while training for your certification exam to remove one of the two required years of your credential’s apprentice designation. The iCode Xperience will help you become a full credential holder faster than ever, separating you from the crowd of new coders.

Certified Professional Medical Auditor (CPMA®) - Certification Exam

Advance your career with the Certified Professional Medical Auditor (CPMA®) credential. Medical auditing is a critical piece to compliant and profitable physician practices. Whether it's Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) audits, private payer denials, or just peace of mind, more physicians plan to have audits conducted regularly. The risks of being non-compliant with documentation and coding are too great. As a CPMA, you will be able to use your proven knowledge of coding and documentation guidelines to improve the revenue cycle of nearly all healthcare practices.

Earn an Impressive Salary as a CPMA

With tighter regulation on reporting healthcare services and payer compensation for those services, CPMAs must have a clear understanding of when a practice is at risk for non-compliance. That is why CPMAs are valuable to healthcare practices and organizations. They help keep healthcare providers out of harm's way of fraudulent activity. Healthcare business professionals earn an average annual salary of $70,320, according to AAPC's 2022 Salary Survey. But coders who earn the CPMA credential and take on auditing responsibilities earn much more. This average fluctuates depending on location, years of experience, how many credentials are held, and the employer type. Click here to calculate the average CPMA salary in your area.

YOU can achieve this same level of success!

We can help you achieve your goals and elevate your career and income potential at iCode Academy! At iCode Academy, you can complete your course and become certified in as little as 8-10 weeks! We meet once a week in a live instructor-led virtual classroom where the chapter content is discussed. We provide bi-weekly study sessions, additional case studies, a mock final exam, and an exam boot camp to further set students up for success as a Certified Processional Medical Auditor!

What Is the CRC Exam?

The CRC exam is a test of medical coding proficiency consisting of 100 multiple-choice questions that assess 17 areas of knowledge. Most questions present a coding scenario to test proper application of CPT® procedure codes, HCPCS Level II supply codes, and ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes—all of which medical providers use to submit claims to payers. During the test, you will reference approved coding books — the AMA's CPT® Professional Edition, as well as your choice of ICD-10-CM and HCPCS Level II code manuals. You must complete the CRC exam within 4 hours and answer 70% of the questions correctly to pass.