CEU FAQs

Continuing education units are required for certified coders to show they are staying current on coding information.

The number of CEUs required is based upon the number of certifications an individual has earned. (See the table below)

Specific Credential Requirements:

Note: Events must be specifically pre-approved for CIRCC®, CPMA®, CPCO™, CPPM®, and all specialty credentials, based on relevance and level of difficulty, in order to be eligible for CEUs.

Once CIRCC®, CPMA®, CPCO™, CPPM® and specialty CEUs have been met, the remaining credits due can be obtained from any pre-approved program.

If CEUs have been pro-rated due to a corporate membership addition, this may exceed the cap of 52 CEUs every two years.

Pre-approved Specialty CEUs can be applied toward one Specialty and one Core credential concurrently. Click here for more details.

Go to our Approved CEU Vendors to access the list of approved CEU Vendors. There you can enter either the name of the event or the name of the sponsoring organization. This method of searching will show if the event has prior CEU approval from AAPC. If you are unable to find the event, please contact us.

An instructor at a post secondary school may receive up to 16 CEUs per core credential during a two-year renewal period, for teaching a face-to-face course specific to the credential. This does require prior approval and the application must be submitted under the name of the college not under your member account. The syllabus of the course and titles of all curriculum used is required at the time of application submission; locations to attach this information are available in the application. The instructor must submit the start and finish date of the course.

If a student currently holds an AAPC certification, AAPC will accept time spent in post-secondary education programs. This includes diploma and degree-granting programs that relate to health care, health care business, health care finance and health care management. Each CEU is earned based on transcripts showing the "clock hours" or "credit hours." Clock hour CEUs are earned at the rate of 1 CEU per clock hour, and should be no less than 80 hours. Credit hours are earned at a rate of 10 CEUs per credit hour. In either case, the maximum number of CEUs that can be earned in this manner is 40 hours per year.

Credit will not be awarded for educational activities completed prior to certification.

Please note that AAPC will charge a $50 fee for CEU extensions. To avoid this fee please stay current on your CEUs and submit them on time. If a CEU extension is needed at the end of your renewal period, please contact AAPC to purchase your extension. CEUs earned after your due date will be limited to AAPC education.

CEUs must be earned and submitted within your two-year renewal period. Excess CEUs do not carry over to the next renewal period. CEUs earned within your renewal month can apply to either the current submission or the next.

Events must be specifically pre-approved for CIRCC^®*, CPMA^®, CPCO^™, CPPM^®, and all specialty credentials, based on relevance and level of difficulty, in order to be eligible for CEUs. You can Search for CEUs to view a list of specialty approved programs.

*We have contracted with only three companies that may provide training that will qualify for the 8 specific CEUs required each year (or 16 CEUs per renewal period) to maintain the CIRCC^® credential. These companies are ZHealth Publishing, MedLearn Publishing, and Medical Asset Management. Although other pre-approved vendors may provide interventional radiology training, the CIRCC^® CEU requirement must come from one of the above-mentioned companies.

Visit our CEU Vendor Resources page. Open the Application tab for easy access of "media specific" applications. Select an application according to the media of presentation:

• Live or Recorded Live, Seminars, Workshops, Courses including Post Secondary School Courses, and Audios
• Educational Publications and book-based Self Study Courses
• Online Education (curriculum that builds methodical brick upon brick, to tell a larger story)
• Newsletters and Magazines (comprised of numerous topics, advertisements, non-coding tidbits like surveys, interspersed with the articles; delivered via hard copy, email, or web based)

Yes you may and the process is very simple. Visit our CEU Vendor Resources page, and select the application according to the media of presentation. Mark that this is an in-service. An in-service application is a FEE FREE application. If your in-service event is 1.5 hours or less, the PROGRAM GOAL gives space to write enough information that the credibility of the event can be recognized. If it is two hours or longer, please include a timeline with agenda statements for each time segment of the program when sending in your application.

Questions must be followed by rationales. It does the student no good to simply be told that she chose the wrong answer; it's important to understand how to find the right answer. Rationales should enrich the established curriculum. Proper rationales will be a detailed narrative telling the story of how to come to the correct answer. What follows are examples of acceptable rationales:

• Shortness of breath is documented. However, SOB is a common symptom associated with pneumothorax, and ICD-10-CM Official Coding Guidelines state, "Signs and symptoms that are integral to the disease process should not be assigned as additional codes, unless otherwise instructed by the classification."
• When the cardiologist schedules an angioplasty, atherectomy, or stent procedure, it is usually based on a prior diagnostic cardiac catheterization. In these situations, it is not appropriate to code for a repeat diagnostic test. To be clear, it would not be appropriate to separately report catheter placement (93508 or 93510) or diagnostic coronary angiography (93545 and 93556) at the time of an elective coronary intervention.

For online self-study courses, the AAPC will perform a word count of your PowerPoint. The PowerPoint should be submitted in a form that a word count can be electronically calculated. If the CEU Analyst is unable to perform a word count, a visual review will be performed and CEUs will be awarded accordingly. If the PowerPoint is a part of a live presentation, send the PowerPoint and a time lined agenda of the presentation. If an audio accompanies your PowerPoint, please submit the audio along with the PowerPoint for review. CEUs will be based on the timed presentation/audio accompanying the PowerPoint.

The AAPC strives to "Uphold a Higher Standard" and expects the same from our CEU-approved vendors. If you encounter problems, please email your concerns to info@aapc.com.

All of the general and breakout sessions, and all of the meals during the program, including the member appreciation banquet lunch.

You will be surrounded by your fellow conference attendees, NAB and AAPCCA board members, along with staff from the AAPC national office. It is also a great chance to meet new friends and catch up with all your conference friends from previous years.

Yes, conference is a great opportunity to earn CEUs for your specialty credential. Sessions that qualify for CEU credit for specialty credentials are listed in the conference program.

Yes, both the National Advisory Board (NAB) and the AAPCCA Board are involved in putting on the conference and are available throughout the conference to meet and network with conference attendees. You will also have the opportunity to meet other staff members from the AAPC national office.

Handouts will be available two weeks prior to and three weeks following the conference. They are accessible to registered attendees conference web page (once you are logged in). If you wish, you can print out the handouts and bring them to the conference, but it is not necessary. Paper copies of the handouts will not be provided at the conference.

Information about the workshop is listed for registered attendees both on the event web page (once logged in) and in the Purchases/Items section of "My AAPC" (which again requires log in to the AAPC website). A description of the topic, location, and time will be listed there.

You may register over the phone, online with a credit card, or you may mail in a check with the workshop registration form found on our website. You may also fax in the registration form with a credit card number. Registration is not accepted without payment, and we do not accept purchase orders.

The workshops are worth up to 6 CEUs. You will receive 4 CEUs for attending. You will receive 2 for completing the course post-quiz. The index number provided to you at the actual workshop will give you 4 CEUs when entered into the CEU tracker online. You may find the certificate online and only submit it if you are chosen for CEU verification.

You will be provided with a PDF workbook prior to the workshop. You’ll want to have it handy during the workshop so you can reference it during the workshop. If any books are suggested for the hands-on portion of the workshop, we will note that on the workshop information page.

• Log into AAPC.com
• Click on "My AAPC" and then on "Purchases/Items"
• Click on the "Items" tab and then click the workshop for which you would like to find the exercises. You will find the link for those exercises there. You complete and submit these online - there is no need to print anything.

Yes, you may cancel your workshop, however there will be a $25 cancellation fee. Contact us directly at 800-626-2633 option 4. If you cancel at least one week prior to the workshop you may receive a refund less the $25 cancellation fee. In the event that a cancellation is received less than one week prior to the workshop, no refund will be given. You may transfer your registration to the on-demand version of the workshop or you may have a credit for a future workshop.

Yes, all virtual workshops are recorded and available on-demand the day after the live event (as an Adobe Flash presentation or podcast with downloadable presentation slides) with the purchase of a live workshop. You may also purchase the on-demand presentation by itself. It is worth up to 6 CEUs. Four (4) CEUs for watching the recorded presentation, and two (2) CEUs for completing the post-test.

Because space is limited at many of our workshops, we can only guarantee registration once payment has been received.

Get access to the author-recorded webinar broadcast Includes electronic workbook, downloadable mp3, ipod/iphone video, and presentation slides Learn at your own pace with the ability to pause, rewind, etc.

Yes, by using the Webinar Test Tool, you can ensure you will have the best webinar experience available.

• A broadband (high-speed) internet connection with at least 256kbps upload & download speeds
• Computer speakers or headphones for listening
• AAPC Webinars operate using ports 80, 443, and 1935. Please consult your system administrator to make sure these ports are open on your computer and network firewalls

You may register online or over the phone with a credit/debit card, or you may mail a check with a quote order created on the website (select “mail payment” in shopping cart to do this. Registrations are not accepted without payment, and we do not accept purchase orders.

Yes. We offer an Annual Webinar Subscription that also includes our full library of on-demand webinars starting with 2015.

Annual Webinar Subscription access is good for one year from your date of purchase.

Your Annual Webinar Subscription can be accessed under your Purchases/Items, then Subscriptions tab. Click on Webinar Subscription and it will take you to the page where you can access all on-demand and live webinars.

Your purchased webinar can be accessed under your Purchases/Items, under the Items tab. Click on title of the webinar and it will take you to the page where you can access your purchased webinar

Webinars are worth 1 to 2 CEUs per webinar, depending on the time it takes to complete the CEU. You will receive CEU(s) upon completion of the post-quiz. This quiz becomes immediately available after the live webinar.

No. Webinars are for individual use only and may not be rebroadcast, shared, or disseminated. Each webinar subscription or purchase entitles the user to one online connection or one back-up phone line. The use of more than one phone line and phone conferencing is prohibited. Only individuals owning a webinar purchase, whether subscription or individual, will be given CEUs for the broadcast and the quiz. Unauthorized persons will not be given access.

Webinars are approximately 50 minutes in length. They begin at 11:00 AM MT (10:00 AM PT, 12:00 PM CT, 1:00 PM ET)

You will not need to bring anything with you to the webinar. If you would like to take notes on the presentation slides, a copy of the slides can be accessed no sooner than 48 hours prior to the webinar.

All information and links for the webinar can be found on the website on the webinar page. To access, go to your Purchases/Items and click on the webinar title under the Items tab (if it’s an individual webinar) or click on Webinar Subscription under your Subscriptions tab if you’ve purchased an Annual Webinar Subscription.

The link for the presentation slides becomes active 48 hours before the webinar start time. The link to watch the webinar becomes active 15 minutes before the start time. The links to rate the webinar, to take the quiz, and to print the certificate will become active as soon as the webinar ends. If you are having trouble accessing, contact our Customer Service Representatives at 800-626-2633