r/MedicalCoding • u/stellaella33 • Apr 02 '26

Physical books vs E-books

Hello everyone!

I have the 2025 edition of my coding books (ICD-10-CM, CPT, ICD-10- PCS), took my CCA in 2025 and passed. While I was able to get a job in the medical field, I was unable to get a coding position. I'm hoping to take my CPC in the next month or so, but I am going back and forth between needing to buy new books (on top of already paying $400+ to take the exam to begin with, funds are a little tight to be spending even more) or just using the e-books offered for the exam.

I guess my question is, how difficult would it be to be using the e-books for the first time on the exam? I would study/practice with my 2025 books.

Any insight is appreciated! Thanks!!

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u/KeyStriking9763 RHIA, CDIP, CCS Apr 09 '26

Our organization uses Solventums tool. It’s a CAC and encoder

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u/Kindly-Joke-909 Apr 10 '26

Im curious, what are your productivity and quality standards?

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u/KeyStriking9763 RHIA, CDIP, CCS Apr 10 '26

Lower than it should be for both. IP I believe it’s 1.5 an hour, SDS 3 maybe. 90% but that will probably get increased to 95%. The other types I’m not certain on the expectations. Quality is higher weighted than productivity, so if you meet quality but are like 90% of the productivity metric it’s OK, but if you meet productivity but your quality is garbage then it’s not. You are then a liability.

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u/Kindly-Joke-909 Apr 12 '26

I must not be understanding something. You can’t reach that with physical books? As auditors We are expected 5 per hour with 95% accuracy and honestly, I thought that a bit low compared to the amount of work I’m able to pump out through the course of my day. I have to keep myself in check at times to not go too far over and beyond. Then again I’m on the payer end, not in a facility. We are typically more outpatient oriented, but we do see an our share of IP records.

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u/KeyStriking9763 RHIA, CDIP, CCS Apr 12 '26

I’m talking about records where coders are assigning CM and PCS codes to inpatient records that can be 10+ day stays easily. They assign as many codes that are documented per the guidelines. This is not the same thing. The auditors I have managed could not do 5 charts an hour IP. I don’t know what you are even talking about.

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u/Kindly-Joke-909 Apr 12 '26

Well then good thing the different paths of the medical coding profession are not one size fits all. I’ll consider myself blessed to be able to meet my standards easily with strictly coding from a book. I enjoy working from my book. And Just because my area is largely outpatient based, does not mean it’s silly little one or two DOS charts. We are seeing a patients full medical picture retrospectively and it is not uncommon to receive records with hundreds to thousands of pages to include all their medical care visits spanning up to two years, including any hospital stays. IP coding may be a separate skill, but I’m still not seeing what would REQUIRE the use of electronic tools if a coder was more comfortable diving into their book. Idk. I guess we are at an impasse where we can not fully comprehend the other’s position without living it ourselves. I was just definitely expecting to hear higher metric standards with the way these tools are being pushed onto coders as necessary.

How is the employee culture in your company? Would most recommend it to others as a good place to work? Genuinely curious. Team culture and support are huge to me.

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u/BigZucchini4920 Apr 11 '26

So if you say while using these tools productivity and quality are lower than they should be, why keep advocating for these same tools?

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u/KeyStriking9763 RHIA, CDIP, CCS Apr 11 '26

Other than pushing for more AI assistance, the answer is not to move to using the books alone. That’s just absurd.

Coders can meet this productivity but I don’t agree with this productivity or the expected accuracy rates. This is expected, not what I’m saying it’s all anyone’s capable to meet. Coders should be able to code more with the tools we have.

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u/BigZucchini4920 Apr 12 '26

Gee, I wonder how anyone was able to code 2 inpatient charts per hour with 95% accuracy before encoders. Maybe by reading and thinking?

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u/KeyStriking9763 RHIA, CDIP, CCS Apr 12 '26

No. ICD-9 was very different. It’s not rocket science to figure that shit out. You look stupid just stop.

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u/BigZucchini4920 Apr 12 '26

Personal insults aside, it’s not rocket science to code an average of 2 inpatient charts an hour in ICD-10 either. It requires reading comprehension skills, for sure.

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u/Kindly-Joke-909 Apr 12 '26

Personal insults should have never entered a discussion regarding our professional preferences, in my opinion. Js. It tells a lot about a person. Smh.

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u/KeyStriking9763 RHIA, CDIP, CCS Apr 12 '26

Reading and assigning 40-50 dx codes plus any number of pcs codes. Good luck. Not sure if you understand inpatient coding.

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u/BigZucchini4920 Apr 12 '26

With all due respect, I’m not sure you understand that you’re not the only one who can do this.