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Q: Do you have to have medical coding experience before you take any certification exam – Vickie
A: Oh, it’s related, Vickie had the same question. No you don’t. Of course it helps. I mean, if Boyd went to take it and he hasn’t studied, then he’s obviously not going to pass; so experience helps you. The CIC exam that I took yesterday, you have to have experience to be able to code those ten cases with 10 plus, 13 plus codes that you had to get done like quick, quick, quick. So, experience definitely helps. That’s why we stress taking timed practice exams to get your speed up.
Alicia: But those are suggestions.
Laureen: Q: [Study Resources for CIC] What are some good study resources for the reimbursement portion?
Medical Coding Experience – Specialty Classes – Video
A: Actually, what I normally recommend people get is the CIC study guide from the AAPC. It really does fill in the blanks. Another great thing to do is what Tammy and I were doing in our hotel room the night before the CIC exam. We went to the AAPC website, we looked at the exam requirements where they list what you need to know, what the competencies are. We went and kind of discussed each thing. She shared some stuff she knew, I didn’t really shared anything because I didn’t know anything, but I shared how to use Google to go get it and we went over the info. And it just kind of brought back a lot of information, was like way back at the recesses from years ago.
So, that’s another way, just take those competencies and research it. Use Google, half of the time you’ll be taken to the CMS website, make sure you understand that topic and move on. That’s really how we build our medical coding courses. We look at the competencies that you’re going to be tested on.
Boyd: When do you find out when you passed?
Laureen: I don’t know. They’re going to have to hand-grade those suckers because they have ten cases fill in the blanks, it’s not multiple choices. Some poor soul has to grade those.
Alicia: I think Tammy says about four weeks, which would make sense, not soon.
Laureen: Q: [Specialty Classes] Is there a class for coding related to a specific specialty such as orthopedics?
Alicia: AAPC has that study guide for each of the specialties.
Laureen: Yeah. And you can do what Alicia showed earlier, go in and do a search for ortho and see what CEU stuff comes up. We have an On-Demand Class, but it’s really me going through my CPT manual and going over the codes. I wouldn’t say that it’s to get you coding ortho cases, but if you’re just looking for CEUs that would satisfy the requirement for that specialty.