Certified professional coder vs medical coder

The differences between certified professional coders and medical coders can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a certified professional coder and a medical coder. Additionally, a certified professional coder has an average salary of $52,683, which is higher than the $51,563 average annual salary of a medical coder.

The top three skills for a certified professional coder include CPC, medical terminology and AAPC. The most important skills for a medical coder are CPC, medical terminology, and ICD-10-CM.

Certified professional coder vs medical coder overview

	Certified Professional Coder	Medical Coder
Yearly salary	$52,683	$51,563
Hourly rate	$25.33	$24.79
Growth rate	11%	11%
Number of jobs	86,465	51,316
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 34%	Associate Degree, 37%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	12	12

What does a certified professional coder do?

A certified professional coder oversees the daily medical coding operations of a medical facility, ensuring compliance with industry standards and regulations. They usually have the responsibility to provide coding to facilities, update databases, and conduct reviews and assessments to identify missing details or inconsistencies and perform corrective measures. Moreover, as a certified professional coder, it is essential to coordinate with external parties such as insurance providers and communicate with patients, assisting them by answering inquiries, explaining procedures, and solving issues and concerns if any would arise.

What does a medical coder do?

A medical coder's role is to interpret and analyze a patient's medical record and translate particular details according to the universal medical alphanumeric code. Moreover, a medical coder is primarily responsible for ensuring that the translations are accurate, as this will play a vital factor in processing insurance and receiving treatments. Aside from accuracy, it is also crucial for a medical coder to coordinate with other hospital personnel at all times, especially when there inconsistencies in the records.

Certified professional coder vs medical coder salary

Certified professional coders and medical coders have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Certified Professional Coder	Medical Coder
Average salary	$52,683	$51,563
Salary range	Between $38,000 And $73,000	Between $37,000 And $70,000
Highest paying City	Baltimore, MD	Trenton, NJ
Highest paying state	Alaska	Hawaii
Best paying company	Morgan Stanley	Meta
Best paying industry	Technology	Health Care

Differences between certified professional coder and medical coder education

There are a few differences between a certified professional coder and a medical coder in terms of educational background:

	Certified Professional Coder	Medical Coder
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 34%	Associate Degree, 37%
Most common major	Health Care Administration	Health Care Administration
Most common college	Stanford University	Stanford University

Certified professional coder vs medical coder demographics

Here are the differences between certified professional coders' and medical coders' demographics:

	Certified Professional Coder	Medical Coder
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 8.9% Female, 91.1%	Male, 13.2% Female, 86.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 14.8% Asian, 8.3% White, 62.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.6%	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 9.0% White, 60.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between certified professional coder and medical coder duties and responsibilities

Certified professional coder example responsibilities.

Manage the outsourced transcription company.
Apply ICD-10-CM, CPT-4 codes and modifiers in accordance with federal regulations.
Validate DRG's for inpatient and inpatient RAC appeals as well as validating DRG changes.
Assist with insurance verification and registration, including Medicare and Medicaid.
Review, analyze, and code all ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM diagnoses.
Work all age reports for all Medicaid.

Medical coder example responsibilities.

Manage all EDI relate communication with trading partners and assist to produce all operational documents for all end users.
Manage all aspects of AR including writing letters for medical necessity, claim denials, bundling issues and charge capture.
Manage health records while applying ICD-10 coding to update and process insurance claims for time and accuracy to various insurance companies.
Manage the outsourced transcription company.
Create documentation education classes to general surgery residents, increasing the leveling of reporting which lead to increase revenues.
Adhere to regulations with CPT-4, ICD-9-CM and HCPCS coding with medical terminology and effort meet all audit requirements.

Certified professional coder vs medical coder skills

Common certified professional coder skills

CPC, 20%
Medical Terminology, 9%
AAPC, 8%
Patients, 7%
ICD-10-CM, 5%
E/M, 4%

Common medical coder skills

CPC, 11%
Medical Terminology, 8%
ICD-10-CM, 7%
AHIMA, 7%
Patients, 7%
Clinical Documentation, 5%

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Certified Professional Coder vs Medical Coder

Updated January 8, 2025

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