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Guidelines for CEU Approval

For the year 2009 The AAPC will not be awarding CEUs for publications or software considered to be a tool that a coder would or could use at his/her desk to perform his/her responsibilities. Examples would be CPT®, ICD-9, HCPCS Level II, desk reference books, medical dictionaries, and software containing reference material.

The AAPC will award CEUs for 2009 Educational Publications and Self Study Guides as follows:

  • 50 pages of curriculum plus a final test of 10 questions equals 1.0 CEU
  • 100 pages of curriculum plus a final test of 20 questions equals 2.0 CEUs
  • 150 pages of curriculum plus a final test of 30 questions equals 3.0 CEUs
  • 200 pages of curriculum plus a final test of 40 questions equals 4.0 CEUs

The final test must be corrected online, or by the sponsoring organization, prior to the member receiving a CEU certificate of completion. The test must be passed by the participant with a 70% score or higher.

Four CEUs is the maximum. More pages and more questions will not be awarded higher CEU value.

Monthly and Bimonthly Newsletters and Magazines will be approved as follows:

  • 8-24 pages of education with a final 5 question test will receive .5 CEU
  • 25 pages or greater of education with a final 10 question test will receive 1 CEU

Weekly Newsletters will be approved as Bimonthly Newsletters, meaning that approvals will be given for only 2 weeks of the monthly newsletters. The vendor will be requested to submit issue numbers or the dates of the issues they request CEUs for.
The final test for Newsletters and Magazines must be corrected online, or by the sponsoring organization, prior to the member receiving a CEU certificate of completion. The test must be passed by the participant with a 70% score or higher.

If a Self-Study Guide is composed of coding scenarios, as a practice tool, each scenario must have rationale provided. The rationale will be considered the curriculum, the educational component. CEUs will be awarded according to information-rich rationale. The coding scenarios must be corrected online, or by the sponsoring organization, prior to the participant receiving a CEU certificate of completion. The member must pass with a 70% score or higher. For an example of an acceptable coding scenario and acceptable rationale, please call 1-800-626-2633 ext 155.

Seminars and Teleconferences will receive one CEU per hour of training.

Live, or recorded live, Workshops, Audios, will all receive one CEU per hour of training. In addition, they may also receive up to .5 CEUs for a pre test and up to 1 CEU for a post-test. Each test must be corrected electronically, or by the sponsoring organization, and passed with 70% or greater.

As with publications, Self-Study Web-Based Trainings require a final test to ensure materials were actually read and comprehended. The average person can read, comprehend and remember 12,000 to 16,000 words per hour. When requesting CEUs for your web trainings please keep this in mind. The AAPC expects 10 final questions for each CEU. The final test must be corrected either online or by the sponsoring organization. The participant must pass with 70% or greater to be awarded the CEUs. Consideration will be given for any information-rich rationales that accompany the test questions.

Note: Applications for prior CEU approval will be received from the vendor (sponsoring organization) only. The AAPC will not accept applications submitted by an attendee.