Get certified
CPC Certification: How to Become a Certified Professional Coder
“Get certified” sounds like one step; it is really three — join, pass, and shed the apprentice tag. Confuse them and the cost and timeline look scarier than they are. Here is the honest path.
The path: membership, exam, and the CPC-A tag
Getting certified is three moves, not one: join the AAPC, pass the exam, then shed the apprentice tag. Confusing the last two is what makes the CPC look harder than it is.
- Join the AAPCMembership is the gate — you cannot register for the CPC exam without it, and it also unlocks the member price on your attempt. Budget for it as a yearly cost, not a one-off.
- Pass the CPC examThe exam is open-book against the current CPT, ICD-10-CM and HCPCS Level II code sets, so it tests how fast you navigate the books, not how many codes you memorized. Walk through the format and rules on the exam page before you book.
- Collect your CPC-APass without documented on-the-job experience and you are a CPC-A, a Certified Professional Coder Apprentice. It is the full credential with a temporary tag, not a lesser exam or a lower score.
- Remove the -ADocument your coding experience and AAPC drops the apprentice tag. The usual bar is two years of experience, or one year if you pair it with an approved course, verified by employer letters — confirm the current terms on AAPC's official site.
What certification costs
CPC certification cost comes down to two required line items: your annual AAPC membership and the exam attempt itself. Everything else people quote is optional.
The exam fee usually bundles a second attempt, so a first-time fail does not mean paying full price twice — check what the current fee includes before you assume you need to budget for a retake. Membership renews yearly and is separate from the exam; you carry it for as long as you hold the credential.
The sticker shock in most “how much does CPC cost” threads comes from training bundles: prep courses, code books and practice packs stacked on top of those two fees. Those are choices, not requirements. You do need the code books to sit the open-book exam, but the multi-thousand-dollar course is optional, and free question banks like this practice test cover a lot of the same ground.
Exact figures move year to year and by membership type, so pull the current numbers from AAPC's official site rather than a forum post from three years ago.
Keeping it: CEUs and renewal
Keeping your CPC means two ongoing commitments: earning continuing education units (CEUs) and renewing your AAPC membership every year. Miss either and the credential goes inactive.
CEUs run on a two-year cycle. You earn them from AAPC-approved webinars, conferences, articles and workshops, then report them before your cycle closes. AAPC publishes the exact CEU count for a single credential — check it on their official site, because holding more than one certification changes the total you owe.
Renewal is the easier half: pay the annual membership and you stay current. The mistake that costs people is treating CEUs as a year-end scramble. Log a few each cycle as you go, an hour here, a webinar there, and you clear the requirement without a panic in the final month. Let it lapse and you are not just re-paying dues; you risk having to earn the credential back, which is a far worse afternoon than a couple of webinars.
Is CPC certification worth it?
Is CPC certification actually worth it?
For medical-coding roles, yes, because the CPC is the credential most physician-office and outpatient job posts name by name. It rarely works as a magic raise, though. Treat it as the checkbox that gets your resume past the first filter, not a number that lands in your paycheck on its own.
Will the CPC get me a high salary?
The letters open the door; experience and setting decide the pay behind it. A brand-new CPC-A starts lower than a coder with years on the job, and the same credential pays differently across regions, specialties and employer types. Anyone quoting you one exact salary for “a CPC” is guessing, so treat pay ranges as ranges, not promises.
Do employers really ask for it?
In outpatient and physician-practice coding, the CPC shows up in job requirements often enough that not holding it screens you out of a share of openings. It signals you can navigate the code sets under the rules, which is exactly what the day job demands.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between CPC and CPC-A?
You earn CPC-A (apprentice) the moment you pass the exam without documented coding experience. Once you prove the required on-the-job experience, the “-A” is removed and you are a full CPC. See our CPC vs CCS guide for how it compares to AHIMA’s credential.
Do I need a medical background to get certified?
No formal degree is required to sit the exam, but you do need working knowledge of anatomy, terminology and the code sets — which is what the practice questions build.