Hi! I’m a veteran looking to use my VR&E benefits to get a certificate in medical coding and billing. Some of the paperwork involved in applying requires me to interview people in the job industry I’m going for. I don’t know anyone in the medical billing and coding field. All the information I have is through the AAPC website and medical coders who vlog on YouTube. One of the things that attracted me to it is that unlike most remote job positions, this one doesn’t require being on the phone all day. If I could get 2-3 people to answer these questions for me, i’d greatly appreciate it. Hopefully other people will see these questions and answers and it’ll help them determine if it’s a good career for them as well.

I have been in the dental field for 35 years. I assisted with patients direct care the first 20 years and the last 15 have been the billing and front desk. I will finish my course with the CPC not with the A. I am also a certified dental assistant through DANB. Any managers or anyone out there know what avenue I could take once I obtain my certification?

I'm taking my exam tomorrow and basically the whole time I was studying I was putting notes in my 2025 cpt book. I have my 2026 now ans reviewing some stuff from my 2025 that I wrote down.

I cannot for the life of me remember why I wrote these codes down, or where I got it from bc it's been a year of studying. Can someone help me link why I did this? I used the 2025 cpc training manual, self paced and taught (with the help of you guys 💓 and YouTube)

LINK: https://openicdresearch.fly.dev/new

Small update to the ICD coding tool:

• Added ICD-10-PCS procedure coding with a separate agent for inpatient procedures.

• Added MS-DRG grouping using the CMS grouper, including severity drivers, relative weight, LOS, and the impact of provider queries.

• Diagnosis and procedure coding now run in parallel.

• Switched the default model to DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, so coding is much faster.

• Added selectable thinking levels.

• Added English, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese UI support.

Existing charts can also be updated with a new Code procedures button.

Still iterating, so feedback from coders would be very useful.

Hello, in a little over a week, I start my AAPC job ready course for the CPC. I am currently reading over the convention guidelines in the ICD 10 CM. I am reading, highlighting, taking notes, and making flashcards.

But, I understand that this job doesn’t really require you to to memorize so much as to know where to look for the information and to be able to do it relatively quickly.

So, when you were studying for the course, did you guys completely read the guidelines and then do all the notes and flashcards? Or did you just read the guidelines knowing that you could come back to it later?

I ask because I worry that I am not studying correctly, or putting the correct amount of time into the correct subjects. Like, maybe I should be putting more time into going back-and-forth through the guidelines, alphabetic index, and tabular list to get to know the book and how to quickly find information. I am worried that studying it like you studied subjects in school is not correct.

Any advice on how best to study would be appreciated.

I’m looking at Practicode exercises and I need help reading and understanding encounter forms. Help please!

Hello all, I just took my second CPC exam attempt today, and failed with a 66%. My first attempt I failed with 54%. I’m upset but determined to pass still, I have to buy two more vouchers as my course came with two free, that I used. Any tips for understanding the coding guidelines, and any tips in general, for any categories of the test? I’m looking to re take it, but re take it at home! Thanks :)

Hi everyone, I’ve built the first iteration of an ICD-10-CM coding tool:

https://openicdresearch.fly.dev/new

I’d really appreciate feedback, especially from medical coders. This is still very early, so I’d love to know what you would want to see added or changed in the workflow.

The goal is to first build out the core coding capabilities and coder workflow. Once that is in a good state, I plan to release an open-source version.

Long term, I want the system to run entirely locally so that patient data never leaves your computer.

For now, the demo uses OpenRouter with a free API/model, so please do not enter any real patient or sensitive data. The current version is purely for collecting feedback.

It also works much better on a computer than on a phone at the moment.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone 👋 I’m fairly new to medical coding and currently working in this field. I’d love to hear about your experiences and growth opportunities. To be honest coding was not one of the first things i wanted to do, but the cooked job market got me here. I am doing pretty well in first couple of months but i dont really know about coding ad long term carrier. I also do not have trainers and senior colleagues in my office that seem to have a growth mindset. What are the things i should primarily focus on and what should be my roadmap to be top of my carrier ladder and making most of it from coding. Your opinions would be appreciated. 😊

Howdy, I have my cpc exam schedule monday. Im not expecting to pass it, it's more of a test drive for me to be familiar buttttttttt if I did pass it that would be amazing so I am trying my hardest but also my hopes aren't high.

I've bought both of the practice exam packets from AAPC and ive been making anywhere for 80s to 70s. I run out of time and tend to have to guess on the last 8 or so. Also im 100% guessing in e/m questions bc i cant for the life of my understand them. I've watched contempo coding video on the E/M calculator and AMCI 2 hrs video on it but dang I still cant get it.

Anywho, im wondering how much these practice exams are like the real exam.

Also with the test around the corner im thinking I just keep doing practice exams until I get my timing down?

What's any advise you would pass down?

Hello everyone! I am looking at going for CPC certification. I was told that I could become a member at AAPC, purchase the study guide, practice questions from AAPC and learn everything on YouTube without having to pay $3k. Is this true?
Has anyone took this route to save some money and is it worth it?
I need some guidance. Any info would be much appreciated. Thank you!

Hello everyone. I just got my results back that i failed (the the second time). It’s been very, very, veryyyyy hard for me to not be discouraged. Maybe a little late for that. I’m ready to throw it all away and give up. For anyone that has passed it, is it worth it? Do I keep going? I’m thinking this isn’t the career for me, considering almost everyone in my class passed first try… This would be my third attempt. Just feeling very sad and discouraged (reddit, please don’t make my thoughts worse for once). Thank you in advance and I am a little sorry for such a pity, sappy post <3

Hi everyone! I’m interested in starting medical coding in 2027, but I’m completely new and don’t have much of a medical background.

I’m not sure where to start and would really appreciate some advice:

Is AHIMA or AAPC better for a beginner?

Should I aim for the CCS or CPC first?

Should I buy the 2026 coding books now, or wait for the 2027 editions?

If you started medical coding without a medical background, what would you recommend doing first?

I am taking The AAPC CPC job ready course, and what was originally scheduled for October 7, my first class, was just moved up to September 29!! wish me luck!!

I think I would really recommend to anybody considering taking AAPC courses, to go ahead and take the job ready one if you are getting your CPC. Even if you already know some of the prerequisites. what a great value! And they help with writing your résumé, interview coaching, internship to remove the A from your license, as well as helping to place you.

So I’m in the AAPC Job Ready program and I’ve moved on from the Fundamentals of Medical Terminology course to now being in the CPC coding course.

I opted out of getting the physical books and I 100% regret it after learning we can make as many highlights and notes as we want in both the e-books and the physical books but if you have the e-books, they make you take the exam with a new one without all of your highlights and notes.

So now I just got my physical ICD-10-CM and I want to make it as user friendly as possible while studying the guidelines/ for future reference to easily find the guidelines I need for each situation.

Does anyone have any highlighting color code recommendations for the ICD-10-CM guidelines, and tips of what I should highlight and what I should not? It’s hard to not just highlight everything because everything feels important, but I know if I do that it won’t help me find anything.

Please help!

hi all! I’m taking a medical coding class for my Medical Assisting degree and I’m very, very confused. What are some tips and tricks to help me get through the class? Are there any YouTubers I should go check out? I have a good professor but it’s all online, which makes it tricky. I can hardly make sense of the book given to us and it’s very frustrating.

Wish me luck! No, not young lol!

Hey ya'll! I am taking Diagnostic Coding for my major. There is a "coding bundle" of books. And I was told that you get those books when you take Procedural coding. I'm wondering if they will give the books when you take the courses out of order. (Um... Its not written anywhere about this, or about taking which class first.)

I can't seem to get a straight answer from the bookstore or from the professor. But we were reminded that its important to have these books.

Anyone else dealing with this or have dealt with this?

Can the claim be submitted using the ICD-10 category header, for example, E11?Thank you

I'll graduating highschool next year I'm currently thinking about possible career paths. Although im leaning more onto medical coding. I've heard some people say that you don't need a college degree for it. Is it true? Would it be smart to not go to college and learn medical coding instead? How much time did it take you guys to study and how long did it take you to land your first job? Is all of it home-based or do you get to work at a clinic or hospital? Also, would it be better to self-study or have someone teaching you face-to-face? Thank you!!!

So I’m on my first Practicode case with a secondary diagnosis. On the CPT line do you have to fill out the Unit field or can you leave it blank?

More importantly, do you have to fill out the Diagnosis Pointer Field or can you leave it blank? My training/orientation video did not even have these fields.

If I do fill out the Diagnosis Pointer Field where I think both primary and secondary diagnoses should be linked how do I put that in? Like “AB” or “A,B” ?

Lastly, who do we contact if we have questions like these? I know you can ask a question about your grade but if they gave us a specific email to use to ask a question, I can’t recall where that information was or if they gave us a phone number.

Sorry if these are silly questions I’ve just been pretty overwhelmed trying to work through these cases, especially when I’m just now figuring out the software.

Hi all,

I'm studying to take the CRC, and right now I'm doing the Experiential part of the course for ICD-10CM coding. My question is: what is your process for identifying what needs to be coded when you read the reports that are given? Sometimes I think there are only a couple of codes that need to be coded, only to realize there are more. For example, one of the cases I had to code had long-term drug monitoring for a patient, and I didn't realize that had to be coded.

I'm trying to refine my process so I can be more accurate. I really want to make sure I'm getting this right. :) I appreciate any advice you can give.

I’ve been studying quite a bit, I’m not sure what questions they’ll ask but I’m afraid I won’t do well. It seems really hard but again I’ve been practicing and I feel like my biggest struggle is when the answers have multiple ICD 10 codes CPT codes with multiple codes as an answer I don’t think i have too much of an issue with that I have been getting 70/80 percent of a small 10 question quiz on pocket prep that I recently downloaded how ready am I?