Practicode, Internships and Removing the ‘A’
Day after day, especially on medical coding forums, we keep seeing that more and more people are constantly asking if practicode is real-world experience. Before you know it, they find themselves thinking it must be since everyone else is doing it, but it isn’t.
The crazy thing is every now and then you will see REAL WORLD CODERS—people who are already working the industry—get on there in an attempt to clarify. You can see them desperately trying to warn everyone that online internships will “under no circumstance” be considered real-world experience.
I know this and my students know this, but I’m taking the time right now to spell it out for anyone who never received real clarity on this subject.
What The AAPC Says
Before I do this, however, let me read you the AAPC definition of a CPC-A straight from their website. The AAPC states:
“To remove your apprentice designation via on-the-job experience, submit proof showing completion of at least 80 contact hours of a coding preparation course (not CEUs) AND one letter, on letterhead, signed from your employer verifying one year of ON-THE-JOB experience (externships accepted) using the CPT®, ICD-10-CM, or HCPCS Level II code sets.”
Towards the bottom of entry it says:
“CPC-A’s Say “Goodbye” to Your Apprentice Status.
Practicode gives you the real-world experience you need to remove your “A,” so you can get the job you want.
The Practicode CPC-A Practicum is now another way to earn 1 year of coding experience toward the removal of your ‘A.’
Sign up for Practicode today and gain hands-on experience.”
An Example
Okay so keeping all of that in mind, the best thing to do here is to paint a picture in your minds.
Sara has completed an 80-hour coding program. Sara passes her test expecting the CPC credential in the mail but instead gets a CPC-A credential. She calls AAPC to inquire on why her certificate says apprentice. The AAPC explains they created the “A” designation for people who took the test without having at least 2 years of ON THE JOB experience. Sara feels defeated and hangs up the phone. Within minutes, Sara comes to understand that she’s lacking something and psychologically it tells her that even though she has the skill set, this limitation she’s been tagged with makes the chances of her getting an actual job look very …. grim. In a panic, she calls the AAPC again and ask them how to get rid of this limitation. AAPC sells her their online internship known as practicode. Sara begins to tackle all the cases and eventually gets them all done. Now we fast forward to the interview. The prospective employer, well let’s just say her name is Becky…. Becky says “So Sara, I see you are a CPC, that’s great because we’re definitely looking for someone with experience, so that’s just wonderful. So, tell me Sara, go ahead and elaborate on the job or jobs you’ve held in the past where you gained your medical coding experience. Sara says “Of course, yes well…..I … I didn’t exactly code at an actual job per se, but I did code a bunch of cases online through my school or with the organization called AAPC” The employer cuts her off and says “ohhhh….so wait a minute, you mean you’re counting the fact that you coded some online cases though your school as “on the job” work experience?
Sara reluctantly musters up the word “yes”.
Becky comes back with “I see, well Sara, I’m afraid I won’t be able to hire you. It appears you have gravely misunderstood something. “On the job” experience means you have actual experience with communicating with all the different payers, entering EOB’s, handling RA’s, submitting claim forms, checking status on claims, verifying benefits, obtaining authorizations, dealing with the IOMS through CMS, sending off appeals, handling patients billing questions, disputing claims, querying physicians, coding from actual electronic health records, referencing the edits, the Coding Clinic, the CPT Assistant..(SCRUNCH) dare I go on…(wimpy laugh)?
Are you seeing what’s happening here? Sara had her A removed only to end up with the SAME limitation… the fact that she STILL didn’t have ANY on the job experience, because let’s just call it what it is, if you KEEP your “A” you’re telling the employers I have no on the job experience, and if you get RID of your “A” through school and practicode, which by the way BOTH are education and both have NOTHING to do with ON THE JOB experience, you still end up in the same boat. In other words, you might as well have kept your big fat butt and spent all your precious time practicing for the interview.
Conclusion
I hope you all are connecting the dots here because THERE is no legitimate substitute for on-the-job experience!
Because neither one is ON THE JOB experience… all Practicode IS more education. Education that makes you code from the report without any multiple-choice options. Education where you have to find the codes using the index of your codebooks.
MORE education that should have been INCLUDED as part of your course training. In other words, you shouldn’t have to finish school then go BUY another product in order to gain what you SHOULD HAVE gained while you were still in school. Again, Practicode is not WORK experience. So please don’t let anyone misinform you that Practicode is ON-THE-JOB experience.
Bottom line, it’s not about practicode or an intern, it’s about KNOWING how to get your employers to bring you in for the interview without any experience and KNOWING how to get the job once you go through the interview. For interview tips and other advice, be sure to join our Facebook medical coding group.
I watched an interview that Delissa Ortega did for Good Morning TX, where she stated that her program could teach a student “from the ground up” “in as little as three days”. She inferred that after those three days students could take the state exam. The video was posted on the Medical Coding Academy website, in case you’re interested. I took my CPC training through a competitor of Medical Coding Academy: I first took A&P as well as Medical Terminology since I had no prior medical training. It turns out these two courses are crucial for understanding the procedures being performed. Had I known that, I would have spent much more time studying!! I then chose the accelerated instructor-led CPC course and completed it in 5 months. I utilized my certification practice exams, which were included in the price of the course. I paid for extensions that allowed me access to the course after the course completion date so that I could go back and review my chapter tests/exams. I passed my certification exam on the first attempt. I just want to say that without the extra time I spent reviewing, I would not have passed my certification exam. The accelerated course was truly accelerated; it required 18-20 hours per week for chapter review, tests, homework, etc. I am a small business owner so finding enough hours in a day was hard. But taking a course is so much worthwhile. The experience can’t be bought. (Or rather it CAN !!)
You are correct but you left out some really important points about practicode. You failed to realize that there are more certification options where practicode can really supplement your other training or studies. Keep an open mind about it. It offers you a chance to code very hard cases and go through your code books in a very detailed way that you may not be doing otherwise. It helps hold you accountable and forces you to complete over 200 cases and train yourself. For some of the harder certifications or specialties you will need more training and deeper knowledge than the CPC. You can also do the same thing practicode does through an optum book but they no longer publish the book. You have to find this on the used books websites. I have no medical training and come from a different field. I am going for a harder certification as well and completed all the pre-requisites and went through a local college to learn medical coding, plus I had to learn A&P and Terminology and Terminology related to diseases. I took AAPC’s course and completed it in about 4-6 months, I did very well but mind you, you can not learn medical coding in 4 months. It will take you over a year (at least) to really get everything that you need for this field, especially if you are new. I started reading surgery journals and went to sites that teach doctors how to take their board exams because I couldn’t find any strong resources that would help me train to work in a facility… Like how to code for surgeries of the fascia and why would I use fascia not subcutaneous? Where would I learn about amputation infections, etc? I couldn’t understand what the words meant and I wanted context. I am training to work for hospitals and ASC’s not in an office and I found AAPC’s coding courses very limiting and not challenging enough, the quizzes and cases were lacking and did not actually cover everything. I also don’t have enough money to go back to school and this was my only option. Many of the questions were too easy and the quizzes were always quite short. I would still do practicode but do it in a different way. Personally, I have never in my life seen cases like these and I really benefited from practicode. I would not expect to use it as a tool to land a job, I would just use it for knowledge. If you are working in the field you probably won’t need it. Use it as an educational tool but certainly not for hands on experience. It can help give you extra prep for your exam. It can prepare you to sit for your certification exam and be more prepared, and it will help you deal with unknowns without getting too stressed over it. At the end of the day finding a job will still be very difficult and it is this way for any field. But it is all in your attitude. So they ask you about experience and you can feel confident about your abilities and know your stuff and this will come across in the interview. Also keep in mind Practicode has 3 modules. 200 cases each. You have to complete ALL 3 to get your A removed. 600 cases total.