# CPCs in Doctor's offices



## notmeow (Oct 1, 2011)

I was informed when I was attending school that, by the year 2013 that Doctor's offices must have CPC certified coders in their offices to bill. I was curious if this is just one of the schools little lies to keep us in or was this a ligament thing that is going to be passed?
If it is why do so many Doctors and their office managers have absolutely no clue what a cpc is?
If some one could please point me to the documentation of this, I would be greatly appreciative. 
Thank you


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## mstallings (Oct 1, 2011)

I have never heard that. Although a lot of employers are figuring out that CPC's are a great asset. I have never heard it is required. Some employers may require certification for employment, but that is up to each individual employer.


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## kahall (Oct 1, 2011)

Not true at all!! Any facility, clinic, medical billing services are not required to have certified coders!!!


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## jsanders71 (Oct 3, 2011)

It may be possible that some dr's office have no idea what a CPC is because they outsource their coding. There are also quite a few dr's offices that outsource their billing as do hospitals. An example, the hospital where I did my internship outsourced their billing. Simply because there is so much involved with billing and coding that many dr's offices depending on size do not have the staff to handle that side of things specifically.


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## v_bradley72 (Oct 3, 2011)

*response*

I've never heard of CPC being a requirement but it helps physicians from a liability perspective. Many physicians want to have certified coders because they receive ongoing support and information necessary to stay abreast of the coding industry. It's definitely an asset to have CPC...you'll get paid more too


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## notmeow (Oct 3, 2011)

I was told by my teacher's that they were requiring certificate for when the ICD-10 comes out. If this is not true then what is the cpc for, why am I going to pay to keep the cpc and pay for the ceu's? I mean if the CPC is just a piece of paper then i have totally wasted a bunch of time and money.


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## mkm1517 (Oct 4, 2011)

My guess is the teacher is saying dr's offices will require certified coders in 2013 due to ICD-10 coming out.  Ask the teacher where they got this information.  Any good coder will gladly show you the documentation.  Just like everything else, it's all in your perspective - maybe the teacher misunderstood the article (?).


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## mitchellde (Oct 4, 2011)

This is something that has been "on the table" for quite sometime.  Around the year 2000 there was a meeting of all the different agencies as there is every year to discuss health care and policy and such the minutes were made available, and in this meeting it was discussed and approved that all coders should be mandated to be certified.  This was agreed and was to be effective January 1 2004.  However due to the marked lack of certified coders at that time they made the decision to put it on the back burner.  Then it was around this time that we saw the push for the CPC-A certification.  As far as I have heard there has been nothing published about a 2013 start date, but that does not mean they will not.  But it is written that this should be done.


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## cweis (Oct 4, 2011)

I heard that by 2013 if you bill Medicare that you have to have a certified CPC on location. I think that it is going to be a Medicare regulation but not sure. Also thinking that it's due to ICD-10.


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## vjst222 (Oct 5, 2011)

Please do not give up on getting your CPC BECAUSE... I feel in the future especially after ICD10 comes out that is going to be a BIG PIECE OF PAPER that employers are  going to look for. Also ,  I know where I work the pay scale is different for a certified coder as opposed to someone who is not certified. If for some reason you would want to get an outsourcing job  chances are you would need to be certfied. I think getting certfied is a smart thing to do for the future of coding.
 As for if you will need a CPC. I did hear in the future that hospitals/insurance companies will probably be more likely to hire you if you already have that cert under your belt. I dont know how accurate that is, but I could see why people are saying that.


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