Effective January 1, 2009:
Summaries and scenarios, in current form will not be accepted after 2008. Instead, approved publications will provide a test and CEU certificate for those successfully completing the publisher’s test. This will ensure knowledge gained.

Effective January 1, 2008:
The following are policy changes that will affect the submission of Continuing Education Units (CEUs).

1. All publications will be awarded 1.0 CEU per scenario/summary with a combined limit of 6.0 CEUs every two (2) years.
2. CEUs are no longer offered prior to certification. Continuing education begins after a member obtains their certification.

Currently we have books on the vendor list that have a wide range of CEU's assigned. The CPC committee met and discussed that fact that scenarios and summaries were very hard to measure for educational value. Since a scenario is a scenario, they are all worth the same. Therefore one CEU per scenario. The AAPC limits the submission of scenarios to three per year or six per every two years because this is also a very limited method for progressing one's knowledge.

AAPC is planning to launch a host of free or low priced on line CEU venues in 2008 to off set the change in policy.

This does not negate work done in 2007.

Pay membership every year and submit your CEUs online via the CEU Tracker every other year.

CEUs are reported every two years on or before your membership due date. You must pay your dues every year, even on a year when you are not required to report CEUs. The year that your CEUs are due is based on the month of your membership:

If your membership is due in the below months: 2 years of CEUs are due on your membership expiration date in 2009.	If your membership is due in the below months: 2 years of CEUs are due on your membership expiration date in 2008.
January March May July September November	February April June August October December

Submit your completed CEU Tracker. Send supporting documents ONLY if you are asked to send them.

To report your CEUs, access your CEU Tracker and submit it online to AAPC. You will need to submit supporting documents ONLY if you are asked to. Keep your supporting documents for six months as the AAPC may randomly select you for CEU verification.

If you are selected to submit your supporting CEU documentation please note that all certificates of approval must contain the index number (pre-approved by AAPC), name of sponsoring organization, title of program attended, name of speaker, number of CEUs approved and date of program.

Maintain a copy of the CEU certificate for your records. Be sure to use the CEU Tracker to easily keep track of your CEUs.

Original PDF certificates
AAPC accepts unaltered copies of the original PDFs. Exceptions include the name of the participant, the date of the event, and the index or catalog number if these items are not printed on the certificate in advance. Please do not alter these certificates in any other way.

Summaries and scenarios
Beginning January, 2008, members cannot submit more than three CEUs for writing summaries or scenarios.

For CEUs earned during previous years, members may submit an unlimited number of CEUs earned for writing summaries or scenarios. Coding scenarios and article summaries have not been assigned index numbers. When entering scenarios or summaries into the CEU Tracker, submit the information using the option indicating you do not have an index number.

Summaries and scenarios, in current form will not be accepted after 2008. Instead, approved publications will provide a test and CEU certificate for those successfully completing the publisher’s test. This will ensure knowledge gained.

Core Educational Content
Coders may claim all of their CEUs earned from curriculum A. Curriculum B can comprise no more than 33% (1/3) of the total CEUs earned per year. Therefore, if one core credential is held 12 of the 36 total CEUs due every two years may be from Curriculum B.

Education curriculum must be comprised of core educational content. Core competency is something that AAPC credentialed coders do at the core of their day to day practice. PRE-APPROVED core competency CEUs will be granted at 100% for education related to the following subjects:

Member Core Educational Content Curriculum A Coding/Billing CPT® ICD-9-CM (Vol. 1-3) ICD-10 HCPCS Coding & Billing Policy & Procedure Clinical Anatomy Physiology Medical Terminology Pharmacy Pathophysiology Compliance Compliance Auditing Compliance Planning Self Reporting Compliance Training Regulatory Medicare Regulations Medicaid Regulations OIG Work Plan MS Transmittals Teaching Regulations NCDs/LCDs Data/Claims Data Management A/R Management Appeals Revenue Cycle Insurer Payer Contract Negotiations

Related Core Educational Content Curriculum B Professional Self Improvement Communication skills Management skills Time management Stress management Employee issues OSHA Workers Compensation Benefits JCAHO

As for the EdgeBlast and CodingEdge
The AAPC Offers 0.5 CEUS for completing the test in each Edgeblast X 2 per month for a total of 12 CEUs per year. The AAPC offers 1.0 CEU for completing the test in each CodingEdge for a total of 12 CEUs per year. Adding the two together the AAPC gives 24 FREE CEUs per year.

Clock hours/Credit hours for post secondary education
If a student has an AAPC certification, the AAPC will accept as CEUs time spent in post secondary education programs, including 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. 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.

What CEUs are approved?

AHIMA CEUs
We offer CEU for CEU credit for all AHIMA audio conferences and workshops. We also honor CEUs from AHIMA for online self assessments. A certificate of attendance or completion is necessary to show participation, one hour of instruction is worth 1 CEU. AHIMA CEUs are accepted from programs sponsored by AHIMA national offices and the state AHIMA branches.

The AAPC does not accept CEUs from other entities that offer “AHIMA approved” CEUs. These organizations must apply separately for AAPC CEUs and receive an AAPC Index number and CEU value.

CMS CEUs
CEUs for CMS-sponsored audio conferences and workshops are accepted by AAPC at a rate of one CEU per hour. These CEUs may come from CMS national or MAC offices. A certificate of attendance or completion with the CMS logo is necessary to show participation.

AAPC Approved CEU Vendor List

Specialty Certification:	16 CEUs every two years
CIRCC Certification (Only):	36 CEUs every two years (24 of them must be in interventional radiology or cardiovascular coding)
Single Core Certification (CPC®, CPC-H®, CPC-P®):	36 CEUs every two years
Double Core Certification (CPC®, CPC-H®, CPC-P®):	48 CEUs every two years
Triple Core Certification (CPC®, CPC-H®, CPC-P®):	60 CEUs every two years
CIRCC Certification together with any AAPC credential	+ 24 CEUs every two years (all must be in interventional radiology or cardiovascular coding)
Maximum requirement cap for more than four AAPC Certifications (CPC®, CPC-H®, CPC-P®, Specialty Certification):	80 CEUs every two years

* CEUs due for the CIRCC credential will not be included in the maximum requirement cap of 80 CEUs. Even if CEUs have maxed out at 80 for other credentials, all additional CIRCC CEUs are still required to be completed.

CEU policies apply to the year in which the CEUs are earned, not submitted. Because CEUs can be earned over the course of two years, it is likely that multiple CEU policies may need to be followed. Please follow the guidelines, as specified in the year the CEU is earned, to ensure that your CEUs will be accepted.

The AAPC has adopted, and is phasing in implementation of a policy that streamlines CEU management for members. Our goal is for each CEU opportunity submitted to have a unique Index number to automate submissions and approval.

The guidelines for each year are explained below and will be honored for CEUs earned in that year.

2006: The AAPC will continue to honor one-half of face-value for CEUs earned at non-approved events that occurred in 2006. The AAPC will accept an unlimited number of summaries/scenarios written from approved 2006 publications.

2007: To qualify as continuing education, CEU events must have prior approval from the AAPC and receive a unique Index number that has been assigned a specific CEU value. Unapproved CEUs for events, workshops, seminars, inservices, teaching, publications or online learning after January 2007 are not accepted. For the year 2007, the AAPC will accept an unlimited number of summaries/scenarios.

2008: Currently we have books on the vendor list that have a wide range of CEU's assigned. The CPC committee met and discussed the fact that scenarios and summaries were very hard to measure for educational value and are a very limited method for progressing one's knowledge. The committee concluded that scenarios and summaries are all worth one CEU per submission, limited to three per year or six per every two years.

1. All publications will be awarded 1.0 CEU per scenario/summary with a combined limit of 6.0 CEUs every two (2) years (there is no limitation for Test Yourself quizzes).
2. CEUs will no longer be offered prior to certification. Continuing education begins after a member obtains certification
3. Index numbers for multiple sessions will be unique (e.g., unique Index numbers are required for individual AAPC National Conference break-out sessions). Be sure to collect all the numbers needed at your events.

NOTE:
The AAPC is planning to launch a host of free or low priced online CEU venues in 2008 to off set the change in policy.

CEUs must be earned and submitted within your two year renewal period. Excess CEUs do not carry over to the next renewal period.

If the CEU tracker does not recognize an approved index number, submit the information using the option indicating no index number.

Twenty-five percent of all CEU submissions will continue to be randomly selected for verification of CEUs submitted on the CEU Tracker. Members should maintain their CEU certificates on file for at least six months beyond their renewal date so the evidence is on hand should he or she be selected for CEU verification.

See recent policy changes