A certified medical coder can earn more money and have a secure job by earning a Certified Professional Coder certification or CPC. This is the major acknowledged medical coding certification in the health care industry. Having a CPC certification hanging on your wall or in your file means you are highly qualified to work for physicians or in any medical office setting. There are over 105,000 certified coders whose job it is to maintain compliance and profitability within medical practices. They are tasked with doing medical coding and documentation accurately and to the best of their ability.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, certified medical coder jobs are increasing at a rate of 22% a year and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. To insure that you have a place in the growing medical industry and increase your chances of being hired in a highly competitive job market you need to certify by taking the tests that are required.
As a certified CPC you will know the code sets including CPT, ICD-10CM, HCPCS Level II plus evaluation and management principles, coding guidelines, documentation practices and surgical coding. You will be an expert in review and assigning accurate medical codes for procedures, services, and diagnoses. Your proficiency in evaluation and management, anesthesia, surgery, radiology, medicine, and pathology will help you be a valued contributor to the medical field.
Knowing medical coding guidelines and regulations will give you a handle on insurance claims issues, bundling issues and charge capture. You will be a valued employee of any medical practice because you know how to bill for reimbursement.
Taking the CPC exam is rigorous. A complete CPC exam course and test will give you a leg-up for your career in medical coding.
The CPC Exam
The exam itself consists of:
- 150 multiple choice questions, proctored. The questions are regarding the correct application of ICD_10-CM diagnosis codes. These codes are used for billing professional medical services to insurance companies. The test requires that you demonstrate knowledge of regulatory rules, modifier use, and coding guidelines.
- 5 hours and 40 minutes is allowed to take and finish the exam.
- One free retake if your scores are not within the passing grade range.
- Cost is $350
- Includes open code book and manuals.
The Practice Test
If you are about to take the AAPC exam for Certified Professional Coders after a medical bill course, or if you failed the exam the first time and are looking for a sure way to pass the test, then you need to look into the CPC Practice Exam.
Contents of the practice exam include:
- A 150 question CPC practice test
- Answer key with explanation and full rationale of the answers
- Scan Tron Bubble Sheets or a testing sheet usable for 150 multiple choice questions. This is a resource answer sheet for exams. It makes taking and grading the tests much easier.
- Exam Study Guide that gives you the common anatomy terminology including handouts of common medical terminology prefix, root word, and suffixes.
- The official AAPC Proctor-to-Examinee Instruction. These are the instructions that your proctor reads out loud to you on the day of the exam.
Those who have taken the test highly recommend the CPC Practice Test. Once you have completed the practice test and passed it, you will have the confidence you can pass the real test with flying colors.
When the 2016 coding books were released in late 2015, the authors of the CPC Practice test went over the entire test to ensue all codes referred to in the answer key had not changed since the previous year.
It is the philosophy of the developers of the CPC Practice tests that a good practice exam should fully prepare students for the real exam. They need to know what to expect and not be blindsided with questions they have not studied.
The practice exam mimics the real CPC exam by including three main sections that include:
Surgery and Modifiers
Medical Concepts
CPT Codes in General Practice
Dont get too comfortable. These three major sections are further divided into 5-10 category specific questions.
CPC Practice Exam Questions
The practice exam has 150 questions. Question can be true or false or sentences that require full page operative notes. The questions on the CPC exam or the practice exam do not cover medical codes only. You can be tested on:
- Coding Guidelines
- Modifier Use
- Global Packages and Bundling
- Understanding Conventions
- Medical Terminology and Gross Anatomy
The authors realize that the wide range of testing questions on the CPC exam can be difficult, so they have formulated the questions on the CPC Practice Exam to imitate actual questions on the CPC exam.
In addition to questions that closely resemble those on the actual exam, the practice test provides a full rationale for each question. Not only are you learning the questions, but you are also refreshing what you learned in the CPC course.
We feel that these rationales will give you insight into the correct answers for each question as well as an explanation why a particular option is correct, why the other options are incorrect and where you can find more information in medical books. If you study the rationales you will probably learn the most efficient way to pass the CPC exam.
An example question:
When does anesthesia time begin?
a. After the induction of anesthesia is complete
b. During the pre-operative exam prior to entering the OR
c. When the anesthesiologist begins preparing the patient for the induction of anesthesia
d. Once the supervising physician signs over the patient’s care to the anesthesiologist
Rational
Answer: C
The answer to this question can be located in the anesthesia coding guidelines under the title “Time Reporting http://www.medicalbillingandmedicalcoding.com)
Rave Reviews and How to Get the Program
You can get the CPC Practice Exam today. It is only $37, but if you pass the CPC exam you can enjoy a pay raise of $7,000 over coders who are not certified.
Those who have used the program have said, I was really pleased with how prepared I felt…
Some users actually felt the practice exam was harder than the actual test. Most students felt the questions were similar, and the test was laid out the same way. I kept waiting for some “unknown” surprise to pop up but it never did, so thanks.”
Several students expressed that they learned just as much fro reading the rationales as they did form the entire course. Everyone expressed that this volume is a must for any medical coder seeking certification.
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