AAPC's Certified Professional Coder — the credential that gets a fresher's CV read. We build the coding knowledge and the code-book speed in parallel.
Search any Indian job board for medical coding roles and count how many name a credential. The one you will see most often is CPC.
The Certified Professional Coder credential from AAPC is the default entry requirement for outpatient and physician-side coding across the healthcare BPO and revenue-cycle industry. It is not the only credential worth holding, and it is not the deepest, but it is the one that gets a fresher's CV read.
This program prepares you for it properly. The CPC exam is open book, which sounds generous until you sit it — 100 questions in 4 hours, across three code books, with a passing bar of 70%. Candidates do not fail because they lack knowledge. They fail because they cannot find what they know fast enough, and because the surgery sections are broader than any amount of general study prepares you for.
So we build two things in parallel: the coding knowledge, and the code-book speed. From the second week, every session ends with timed work in the books.
We also deal openly with the part most institutes gloss over — the -A. Pass the exam without the required experience and you are a CPC-A, an apprentice, and that suffix affects how employers read your application. We cover the removal pathways from day one so that you have a plan rather than a surprise.
The Certified Professional Coder (CPC) is awarded by the AAPC, the largest medical coding credentialing body in the United States.
CPC is a physician-side, outpatient credential. It tests your ability to code the services a provider performs — office visits, procedures, surgeries, diagnostic services — using CPT for procedures and services, HCPCS Level II for supplies, drugs and certain services, and ICD-10-CM for diagnoses. It also tests coding guidelines, compliance, payment fundamentals and anatomy.
The credential sits behind a lot of the outpatient coding workforce: physician practices, ambulatory surgery centres, specialty clinics, and the large Indian service providers who do this work on contract.
About the apprentice designation. Pass the CPC exam without qualifying experience and AAPC awards the credential with an -A suffix: CPC-A. To remove it, AAPC's published pathways are:
By the end of this program you will be able to:
At Codeshift Healthcare Solutions, our CPC (Certified Professional Coder) Training Program is designed to build strong outpatient and professional coding skills while preparing participants for the AAPC CPC certification examination.
Source: AAPC. Verify current details at aapc.com before registering.
| Awarding body | AAPC |
|---|---|
| Format | 100 multiple-choice questions, proctored (AAPC's standard format for most certification exams) |
| Time allowed | 4 hours |
| Passing score | 70% or higher |
| Exam fee | Approximately US $425 for one attempt / US $499 for two attempts — verify current pricing with AAPC |
| Membership | Current AAPC membership required to sit the exam and to maintain the credential |
| Book policy | Open code book |
| Code books | AMA CPT Professional Edition, HCPCS Level II, and ICD-10-CM — current-year editions. Officially published errata permitted. |
| Apprentice removal | Two employer letters verifying 2 years of experience, or proof of 80 contact hours of a coding preparation course plus one employer letter verifying 1 year |
| Recertification | 36 CEUs submitted every two years, plus current AAPC membership |
| Course name | CPC Certification Training |
|---|---|
| Credential targeted | AAPC Certified Professional Coder (CPC) |
| Duration | 50 Days |
| Mode | Online & Classroom (Chennai) |
| Instructor | Sivashankar CPC, CCS, CDIP |
| Languages | English / Tamil |
| Course kit | CPT Professional, HCPCS Level II, ICD-10-CM |
| Assessments | Section tests, timed drills and full-length mock exams |
| Eligibility | Open to freshers; graduate degree preferred |
| Certificate | Codeshift course completion certificate |
| Placement support | Resume building, mock interviews, hiring-partner referrals |
| Post-course support | Lifetime guideline updates, CEU and recertification guidance |
It is the largest part of CPT, it carries the heaviest exam weight, and it is where candidates run out of time. We give it a full module, coded from real operative reports rather than from lists.
Tabbing, annotation, and timed section work from week two. Knowing a code exists is not the same as finding it in ninety seconds.
Most institutes let students discover the apprentice designation after they pass. We build the removal plan into the course and document your contact hours for the 80-hour pathway.
It is the best-recognised entry credential in the Indian market, and it is an outpatient credential. If your goal is hospital inpatient work, CCS or our IP-DRG track is the better route, and we will say so.
Everything in Why Train With Codeshift applies here too — small batches, real charts, active-coder faculty, and support that continues after the course ends.
Neither is better — they are aimed at different work. CPC (AAPC) is physician-side and outpatient, and appears most often in entry-level Indian job postings. CCS (AHIMA) is hospital-oriented, covers inpatient and outpatient, and appears most often in inpatient, DRG, QA and audit postings. Tell us where you want to work and we will tell you which to take.
The -A marks you as an apprentice — awarded when you pass without qualifying experience. AAPC's removal pathways are two employer letters verifying two years of experience, or proof of 80 contact hours of a coding preparation course plus one employer letter verifying one year. We cover this from day one.
Yes. AAPC requires current membership to sit the exam and to maintain the credential. Membership is paid to AAPC separately from your course fee.
Yes — AMA CPT Professional, HCPCS Level II and ICD-10-CM, current year. That is exactly why speed matters. Four hours, 100 questions, three books.
Yes
Yes, with a caveat. Motivated graduates do take CPC directly and succeed. But if you have no medical background at all, BMCT first and then CPC is the safer sequence — you will not spend the surgery module trying to catch up on anatomy.
BMCT is the foundation — anatomy, terminology, ICD-10-CM, CPT and HCPCS basics — and it does not target a credential. CPC Certification Training targets AAPC's CPC exam specifically and goes far deeper into CPT, particularly surgery. Many students do BMCT and then CPC; others with a base come straight here.
AAPC sells exam access as one-attempt or two-attempt packages, so buying two attempts up front is worth considering.
No. AAPC and AHIMA fees are paid directly to those organisations.
Same syllabus, same assessments. Classroom in Chennai; online live, not pre-recorded.
Guideline updates, CEU guidance, recertification reminders and alumni network access — indefinitely, at no additional charge.
Read what Codeshift students have written about their training on Google, or watch our classes on YouTube.
Every course has a defined next step. Here is where you are, and what comes next.
Tell us your background and where you want to work. We will give you a straight assessment of which course fits — even when the answer is a different one.