The AAPC, previously known by the full title of the American Academy of Professional Coders,
is a
professional association
A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that profession, and t ...
for people working in specific areas of administration within healthcare businesses in the United States. AAPC is one of a number of providers who offer services such as certification and training to
medical coders,
, auditors,
compliance
Compliance can mean:
Healthcare
* Compliance (medicine), a patient's (or doctor's) adherence to a recommended course of treatment
* Compliance (physiology), the tendency of a hollow organ to resist recoil toward its original dimensions (this is a ...
managers, and practice managers in the United States. , AAPC has over 190,000 worldwide
members
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
,
of which nearly 155,000 are certified.
History
The AAPC was founded in 1988,
as the American Academy of Professional Coders, with the aim of providing education and certification to coders working in physician-based settings. These settings include group practices and specialty centers (i.e. non-hospital settings). In 2010, as their services had expanded beyond medical and outpatient coding, the full name was dropped in favor of the AAPC
initialism
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
.
Products and services
AAPC provides training, certification, and other services to individuals and organizations across medical coding, medical billing, auditing, compliance, and practice management. These services include networking events such as medical coding seminars and conferences.
Certifications
AAPC offers a number of certifications for healthcare professionals, including:
*
Medical coding
A clinical coder—also known as clinical coding officer, diagnostic coder, medical coder, or nosologist—is a health information professional whose main duties are to analyse clinical statements and assign standard codes using a classification ...
and
medical billing, including stand-alone certifications in over 20 specialty areas,
* Medical auditing
*
Medical compliance
* Physician practice management
See also
*
Health informatics
Health informatics is the field of science and engineering that aims at developing methods and technologies for the acquisition, processing, and study of patient data, which can come from different sources and modalities, such as electronic ...
*
Information governance
Information governance, or IG, is the overall strategy for information at an organization. Information governance balances the risk that information presents with the value that information provides. Information governance helps with legal compl ...
*
Medical classification
A medical classification is used to transform descriptions of medical diagnoses or procedures into standardized statistical code in a process known as clinical coding. Diagnosis classifications list diagnosis codes, which are used to track dise ...
External links
AAPC official site
References
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Organizations established in 1988
Medical associations based in the United States
Health informatics and eHealth associations
Coding schools
Companies based in Salt Lake City
Medical and health organizations based in Utah