Removal of "A" Status From CPC-A

So I get a lot of questions about removing the “A” status from the CPC certification. The A stands for “Apprentice Status” and that basically means that you have no experience yet. So essentially, if you just passed your CPC exam, and you don’t have any experience, you now are a CPC-A. But what does this mean for you? Let’s get into it.

The first thing to keep in mind, is that some employers will still hire you even if you are a CPC-A. Yes, it will be more difficult, but it is not impossible. You can do a job search in your area and see if any employers will hire you when you still have the “A.”

Now let’s say you do a job search and you don’t see any employers willing to accept that certification and you want to get rid of “A” status. There are 3 ways that AAPC lets you remove “A” status from your certification. You need either work experience or a combination of school and work experience.

To remove it using work experience, you need 2 years of actual work experience through an employer. If you fit into this category–you would simply submit a letter to AAPC signed by your employer stating that you have 2 years experience. Once AAPC receives your letter, they will remove the “A” from your certification, and you will now have the CPC.

If you do not have 2 years experience- AAPC offers another option. You can do a combination of school and work experience. If the medical coding training course you took was through AAPC or 80 hours through a similar course or instructor, you would submit your certificate of completion to AAPC along with 1 year of work experience. This will remove “A” status. But what if you still don’t have work experience?

The last option, is AAPC will allow you to submit your certificate of completion from your school, and you can also complete the Practicode. The Practicode is a program that AAPC offers where you code 600 records. You need to complete it and get at least a 70%–and AAPC will count this as 1 year of experience.

It’s important to note though that employers to not recognize the Practicode as experience. So on your resume, this should be listed under Education.

More information about this can be found on the AAPC website.

Other things you may be interested in:

Medical Coding Training Course

Tabs for the coding books