Our new office hours are 24/7 Call any time, including weekends! 909-579-0507
|
AACCA's Celebrating 10 Years of Credentialing Nurses,  Physicians and other Clinical Staff!
In 2003 a group of Masters-prepared Registered Nurses, a PhD RN from a state licensing board, a Nurse JD, 2 physicians (who received the first "Certified MD-Coder" credentials, and a Physicians Assistant decided to form a group which would provide valid testing of clinical personnel's knowledge of correct coding, compliance in coding and documentation, and fraud and abuse issues. At the time the only group which would admit nurses for testing had announced it was "up for sale."
Fearful of forfeiting their test fees, and what would "that" credential mean, the RNs decided they could launch their own group! After all, many had advanced degrees, most had been in management, and the Founding Board of Directors agreed to serve for the first 3 years, which became 5 years.
The American Association of Clinical Coders and Auditors was born, with a nurse attorney from Houston helped set up the organization's legal status, and we set to work to develop our test bank of multiple-choice questions, determined what's passing, and all took the tests several times for validity and Qa with the appropriate coding manual.
To date, AACCA has over 4000 members and has tested/credentialed 3682 members, 99%
Registered Nurses. Our goal for the next year is to double our membership and the number of credentialed RN-Coders and RN-Auditors.
One of the best innovations in coding testing: AACCA is still the only organization providing computer-based online testing and immediate test results.
In 2012, AACCA hit another milestone: It became the first organization offer RNs the ICD10 certification examination and credential: Certified RN-Coder 10.
We want to thank Hilary Falconer, Jennifer Woodruff, Gayla Crouch, Patricia Spurr, Sondra Strand, Linda Drummond for having the knowledge, strength -- and guts to stand up and say, "I'm in!"
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead
|
Our new office hours are 24/7 Call any time, including weekends! 909-579-0507
|
The Institute for Credentialing Excellence, or ICE, is a professional
membership association that provides education, networking, and other
resources for organizations and individuals who work in and serve the
credentialing industry. ICE is a leading developer of standards for
both certification and certificate programs and it is both a provider of
and a clearing house for information on trends in certification, test
development and delivery, assessment-based certificate programs, and
other information relevant to the credentialing community.
|
PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW EMAIL ADDRESS:
|
|
The National Voice of Certified RN-Coders and Certified RN-Auditors.
AACCA provides resources and support to advance the practice of Registered Nurses, physicians and other clinical personnel performing coding of and review of medical documentation in a changing healthcare reporting and reimbursement system. AACCA Mission Statement The American Association of Clinical Coders and Auditors (AACCA) is a national organization composed of clinical professionals from various healthcare backgrounds, mostly nursing. Professional member disciplines that are represented within AACCA include but are not limited to Registered Nurses and physicians performing hospital bill audit, Medicare program compliance, audit of patient documentation, and coding as it pertains to utilization review, case management, risk management, health information management, quality improvement. Nursing and Medical Directors from health plans, insurance carriers, fiscal intermediaries, government and regulatory agencies, and healthcare consulting agencies are members of AACCA. AACCA also provides RN-Coder and RN-Auditor certification testing and renewal.
|
|
AACCA is a member of ICE: The
Institute for Credentialing Excellence. Formerly known as NOCA - ICE membership enables AACCA to provide the best quality credentialling services to RNs and other clinical professionals.
|
|
What is the difference between a
Certified RN-Coder and a Certified RN-Auditor?
A Certified RN-Coder
reviews prospectively to assure all coding going OUT from a
facility or provider is CORRECT and DOCUMENTED. Remember from nursing
school, if you didn't chart it, you didn't do it! Most CRN-Cs code what
they know clinically, such as for the ED, the cardiac cath. lab, the ambulatory
surgery, etc.
Certified RN-Auditors
review a provider's medical documentation retrospectively, working
either for hospitals or insurers, maybe government agencies, checking that the
coded charges submitted were actually performed exactly how they were coded.
Otherwise, it's fraud.
Different employers,
depending on whether they are providers, facilities, insurers or government
agencies, will add to these basic job descriptions.
|
|
|
