Click here for more sample CPC practice exam questions with Full Rationale Answers

Practice Exam

Click here for more sample CPC practice exam questions and answers with full rationale

Practice Exam

CPC Practice Exam and Study Guide Package

Practice Exam

What makes a good CPC Practice Exam? Questions and Answers with Full Rationale

CPC Exam Review Video

Laureen shows you her proprietary “Bubbling and Highlighting Technique”

Download your Free copy of my "Medical Coding From Home Ebook" at the top right corner of this page

Practice Exam

2018 CPC Practice Exam Answer Key 150 Questions With Full Rationale (HCPCS, ICD-9-CM, ICD-10, CPT Codes) Click here for more sample CPC practice exam questions with Full Rationale Answers

Practice Exam

Click here for more sample CPC practice exam questions and answers with full rationale

Women: How Are You Doing? Really.

National Women’s Health Week, May 10-16, is a good time to think about yourself for a change. April 10 is Mother’s Day. How will you spend your special day? Chances are, you’ll spend it doting on your family, as usual. And that’s OK, as long as that maternal instinct isn’t jeopardizing your own health. Unfortunately, […]

The post Women: How Are You Doing? Really. appeared first on AAPC Knowledge Center.

AAPC Knowledge Center

Stop Hepatitis B via HBsAg Screening in Pregnant Women


Screening for Hepatitis B (HBV) infection in pregnant women provides substantial benefit, reaffirms the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in their recommendation statement released last month. This determination follows their review of new evidence on the benefits and risks of screening for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Serologic testing accurately identifies HBV infection and, in turn, women whose infants are at risk of perinatal transmission. Interventions provided to HBV-positive pregnant women are effective in preventing perinatal transmission of HBV and the subsequent development of chronic HBV infection.

HBV Significance:

HBV is a leading cause of death worldwide. Chronic HBV infection is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, often leading to cirrhosis and liver cancer. 

Prevention of mother-to-child transmission is an integral part of global efforts to mitigate the burden of chronic HBV since vertical transmission is responsible for approximately one-half of chronic infections globally. 

An estimated 24,000 infants are born each year to women in the United States infected with HBV.

Although there are guidelines for universal infant HBV vaccination, rates of maternal HBV infection have increased annually by 5.5 percent since 1998. Without postexposure immunoprophylaxis, approximately 40 percent of infants born to HBV-infected mothers in the United States will develop chronic HBV infection, approximately one-fourth of whom will eventually die from chronic liver disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

HBsAg Testing Saves Lives:

The CDC has recommended routine prenatal screening for hepatitis B infection since 1988. The principal screening test for detecting maternal HBV infection is the serologic identification of HBsAg. Immunoassays for detecting HBsAg have a reported sensitivity and specificity greater than 98 percent.

Prevent perinatal HBV transmission by identifying HBV-infected pregnant women via HBsAg testing and provide targeted HBV immunoglobulin (HBIG) and vaccination postdelivery for infants born to HBsAg–positive mothers.

USPSTF Reviews Substantial Evidence:

To reaffirm its 2009 recommendation on HBV screening in pregnant women, the USPSTF commissioned a reaffirmation evidence update to identify substantial new evidence sufficient enough to change the prior recommendation. 

In the United States, the standard intervention for all HBV-positive pregnant women is case management. Thus, USPSTF’s evidence review focused on the benefits and risks of screening and the effectiveness and potential harms of case management in the prevention of perinatal transmission.

The net benefit of screening continues to be well established. Mounting evidence proves that serologic testing for HBsAg accurately identifies HBV infection and interventions are successful in preventing perinatal transmission. In fact, studies showed a decrease in perinatal transmission among women and infants enrolled in case management.

Source: https://www.aapc.com/blog/48069-hbsag-screening-in-pregnant-women/


Coding Ahead

Stop Hepatitis B via HBsAg Screening in Pregnant Women

Screening for Hepatitis B (HBV) infection in pregnant women provides substantial benefit, reaffirms the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in their recommendation statement released this month. This determination follows their review of new evidence on the benefits and risks of screening for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Serologic testing accurately identifies HBV infection and, in turn, […]

The post Stop Hepatitis B via HBsAg Screening in Pregnant Women appeared first on AAPC Knowledge Center.

AAPC Knowledge Center

Data Show College Doesn’t Pay Off for Women

Men still command higher salaries than women in the same occupation, according to an article published by the U.S. Census Bureau, and education doesn’t help matters. “While workers with a bachelor’s degree earn about double that of their co-workers without a college education, the difference between men’s and women’s earnings widens with more education,” demographer […]

The post Data Show College Doesn’t Pay Off for Women appeared first on AAPC Knowledge Center.

AAPC Knowledge Center

Joint Commission: Test pregnant women for HIV and syphilis before childbirth

On July 1, 2018, The Joint Commission will implement three new elements of performance (EP) for maternity care. The announcement, which came in the latest R3 Report, is intended to reduce the risk of transmitting diseases like HIV and syphilis from mother to newborn.

HCPro.com – Briefings on Accreditation and Quality

Women in Medical Coding/Billing and HIM field generally- a gender ratio question

I’m so new to this field that I’ve only just completed my online course and will be sitting for the CPC in March and AHIMA’s CCA in April. Somehow until just a few weeks ago, it didn’t jump out at me just how women-centric this field appears to be. I’ve been trying to find research papers that might indicate the history of this and to why this is, but haven’t found much. I’d love to hear anecdotal ‘whys’ about this, not for any real reason other than it makes me suspicious in terms of salary generally. Many (most?) fields in the U.S. that are dominated by women aren’t areas which are traditionally high-paying, nor seen as particularly valuable by those who have been the status quo of determining what is valuable (ie: middle aged white men). Is this field the exception? How did women find this as a promising field (especially prior to the internet and electronic data explosion) and then (and now) come to it in droves?

If nothing else, perhaps once I’m certified and job-hunting, I’ll take my independent academic researching background and see what I can find and perhaps write a paper on it! 😉

I welcome any feedback on this topic, as well as links/resources that could provide historical background as to how women have come (or always did) to dominate this particular area of the healthcare world in the U.S.

Also, I’d like to thank the AAPC for making me feel so welcome in this professional organization. 💗

Medical Billing and Coding Forum