CPC-A Apprentice Status: How to Remove the A From Your CPC

Written & reviewed by {name} · Last reviewed 2026-10-02 · Editorial standards

If you pass the CPC exam without two years of coding employment behind you, the credential AAPC issues you is CPC-A — Certified Professional Coder, Apprentice. You are fully certified; the "A" is a separate experience flag, and it stays attached until you file a removal application and AAPC approves it.

Nothing removes it automatically. AAPC states that a CPC-A credential "remains valid indefinitely" as long as you keep your annual membership and continuing education current, which means the A can sit on your signature line for years if you never submit paperwork. That is the part most candidates discover after the exam rather than before it, and it is worth planning for while you are still studying.

First, what the A does not mean

It does not mean provisional certification, and it does not mean you failed anything. The CPC exam is 100 multiple-choice questions in four hours, and the pass mark is 70% — at least 70 of the 100 correct, per AAPC's own support documentation. Clear that bar and you have passed outright.

The A also does not reduce your upkeep. Apprentices carry the same maintenance as full CPCs: a current AAPC membership (listed at $229 for an individual renewal) plus 36 continuing education units every two years. You pay the same dues for the shorter credential, which is the practical argument for removing it rather than ignoring it.

The four official routes out

AAPC's removal page lists four qualifying combinations. Only the first requires a full two years in a coding seat:

Two years of on-the-job coding experience, verified by your employer.
One year of employment plus either AAPC's Practicode program or an approved 80-hour medical coding course.
Practicode plus an 80-hour coding course — no employment at all. Each is credited as one year, so together they satisfy the whole requirement.
AAPC's Job-Ready Program, which builds removal into the curriculum and is advertised as clearing apprentice status in as little as 16 weeks after certification.

The third route is the one worth understanding before you test

Route three means a career changer with no healthcare job history can hold a clean CPC on day one. AAPC's own FAQ says it plainly: completing an approved 80-hour course removes one year, completing Practicode removes the second, and doing both "fulfill[s] the entire experience requirement before starting your first coding job."

This has been true for over a decade and candidates still miss it. On AAPC's forums in July 2015, a career changer with an accounting degree asked whether Practicode plus a billing/coding course would eliminate the designation; another member confirmed that is exactly how they removed theirs. In November 2019 a poster still assumed Practicode alone would do it and had to be told each piece is worth one year, not two.

The trap: 80 contact hours, not 80 CEUs

AAPC's removal page specifies "at least 80 contact hours" and twice adds the parenthetical "(not CEUs)." Those are different currencies, and the confusion is well documented: a candidate who passed on 13 November 2020 posted that they needed "80 hours of CEU's" to drop the -A and asked whether their associate-degree coursework counted. In January 2025 another member who certified in September 2023 asked whether a university extension coding program qualified.

The answer in both cases turns on documentation, not prestige. AAPC accepts exactly three proofs of the 80 hours: an instructor letter on school letterhead, a certificate or diploma stating the contact hours, or an unofficial transcript showing them. If your course paperwork does not state a contact-hour figure, go back to the school for a letter that does — before you file. Note too that Practicode itself awards no CEUs for the core program (only 3 per completed specialty module), so it is an experience credit, not an education credit.

Who is allowed to verify your experience

Only employers, supervisors, or an HR department may confirm coding time — a colleague's vouching does not count. Each letter must state the coding experience achieved with start and end dates, sit on company letterhead, be hand-signed and dated, carry current contact details for follow-up, and be uploaded as a non-editable PDF. AAPC publishes an optional verification template, and using it is the cheapest way to avoid a bounced application.

Two details reward reading the fine print. First, experience from before you certified counts: AAPC confirms that any professional on-the-job coding you did prior to passing applies to the two-year requirement, provided your employer verifies you used CPT, ICD-10-CM, or HCPCS Level II. Second, letters combine — previous employers, current employers and externships can be stacked. A November 2019 forum poster asking whether a 10-month role plus a current 3-month role could add up to one year was asking the right question; under the published rules, it can. And your job title is irrelevant. AAPC's position is that titles alone do not determine eligibility; qualifying coding duties do.

Practicode's fine print

Practicode is graded, not taught — AAPC's page carries the flat note "This program does not teach medical coding," and support is limited to the written rationales plus email. To earn the year you need a minimum of 600 cases at an overall score of 70% or higher.

Two exceptions matter. The marketing line reads "1 year off your apprentice 'A' status (select Practicums only)" — not every module carries the credit, so confirm yours does before buying. And if your cases were reset after a non-passing score, AAPC warns the system will not automatically update your completion status or generate a new experience letter even once you pass; you have to submit the documentation or contact AAPC manually. Older forum advice to "print a certificate of completion and mail it to AAPC" is now obsolete: everything goes through the online Apprentice Removal Application.

A fifth route AAPC's own pages disagree about

The removal page lists four options. AAPC's support article on apprentice status lists a different set, naming "Practicode and Project Xtern" as the two programs that reduce the apprenticeship period by one year — and omitting the 80-hour course entirely. Project Xtern does not appear on the removal page at all.

Xtern is real and still documented: AAPC matches CPC-As with approved facilities for hands-on work on live records, charges nothing to participate, and notes that Xterns are typically unpaid because the facility receives the coding support in exchange. If it fits your situation, raise it with AAPC directly rather than assuming the removal page is exhaustive — when a certifying body's pages give different lists, plan around the stricter one and get your route confirmed in writing.

How long approval takes

AAPC publishes 2–4 weeks for processing, after which your credential updates to full CPC in its verification systems. That number is strikingly hard to find by asking other coders: in one January 2025 forum thread two different members asked how long a decision takes and neither got an answer. Budget a month, file before you need the clean credential on a résumé, and do not schedule a job start date around the update.

What to do while you are still studying

Decide your removal route before exam day, not after. If you are already coding, ask your supervisor for the letter now, while the people who can confirm your dates still work there — AAPC accepts experience from former employers, but only if someone there will still sign. If you are changing careers, collect the contact-hour documentation for whatever course you took, and read the 80-hour language before you assume a certificate qualifies.

Then spend the remaining time where the exam actually is. It is open-book in a narrow sense: the AMA's CPT Professional Edition, one ICD-10-CM and one HCPCS Level II book — and candidates who choose the eBook option lose their tabs and margin notes entirely. The five areas our practice questions cover are the ones the exam leans on hardest: ICD-10-CM guidelines and conventions, E/M level selection, surgical and procedural rules, modifiers and HCPCS Level II, and compliance.

Try the free CPC practice test →