Salt Lake City, Utah (PRWEB) November 4, 2009 -- The American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC, www.aapc.com) announces its association with the National Alliance of Medical Auditing Specialists (NAMAS, www.namas-auditing.com) to offer the Certified Professional Medical Auditor (CPMA) credential. The association, effective Jan. 1, 2010, will benefit AAPC members, medical coders, health care professionals and NAMAS customers through the availability of a nationally recognized audit credential.

The AAPC and NAMAS will work together closely to maintain the recognition, credibility and growth of the credential. NAMAS will provide the educational sessions for the audit training, with both the AAPC and NAMAS administering the certification exam. The AAPC will develop and maintain the credential.

"In the ever-changing landscape in health care, the AAPC recognizes that health care professionals are seeking additional certifications and continuing education beyond medical coding. That is why the AAPC is working with NAMAS to make this nationally recognized credential available to the entire health care community," said Reed Pew, CEO and president of the AAPC. "The Certified Professional Medical Auditor (CPMA) credential is the leading certification in the auditing industry."

NAMAS Director, Shannon Smith, also commented on the collaboration. "We are excited to work with the AAPC to offer the CPMA credential," she said. "This association shows that the CPMA continues to achieve elevated status, identifying the credential as an added benefit to the careers of medical coders and health care professionals, as well as recognizing the CPMA credential as the leading certification in this field."

Membership status for the CPMA designation will be maintained by the AAPC beginning January 1, 2010. All NAMAS members with a valid CPMA credential as of Dec. 31, 2009, will be grandfathered into the AAPC's designation.

About the National Alliance of Medical Auditing Specialists (NAMAS)
NAMAS is the leading resource for auditing information and education. As an organization, NAMAS works to educate coders, billing specialists and compliance and auditing professionals, providing the most comprehensive level of understanding to documentation requirements for all specialty services.

About the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC)
The AAPC (www.aapc.com) is the nation's largest medical coding training and certification organization for medical coders. The AAPC provides credentials to medical coders in physician offices, outpatient facilities and payer environments. The certifications the AAPC offers are Certified Professional Coder (CPC®), Certified Professional Coder - Hospital (CPC-H®), Certified Professional Coder - Payer (CPC-P®) and Certified Professional Medical Adutior (CPMA), as well as 19 specialty-specific credentials and the Certified Interventional Radiology Cardiovascular Coder® (CIRCC®) credential. These credentials represent the gold standard certifications for medical coding. The AAPC provides a wide variety of benefits to its 82,300 members worldwide.

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Contact Information:

Jane Putnam
American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC)
801-487-4800 x143

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