AHIMA Coding Programs Receive NCCA Accreditation

 

AHIMA recently announced that the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) granted accreditation to AHIMA’s Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) and Certified Coding Specialist-Physician-based (CCS-P) certification programs.  Earlier this year, NCCA accredited AHIMA’s Registered Health Information Technician and Registered Health Information Administrator certification programs.
 
“AHIMA has achieved unprecedented NCAA accreditation on four certification programs within a 6-month period, said Michael Niederpruem, MS, MA, CAE, AHIMA vice president of certification services.  “This exemplifies AHIMA’s commitment to be a trusted broker of best practices, education, and professionalism in the health information management industry.”   
 
“Having these NCCA-accredited certification programs aligns with AHIMA’s goal to ensure that we have highly-trained professionals meeting the growing demands of our industry," said Lynne Thomas Gordon, AHIMA CEO. "With the CCS and CCS-P certifications, AHIMA continues to educate and train our members to manage health information that can be best utilized to improve patient care as well as deliver quality operational outcomes.”

AHIMA credentials are earned through a challenging program of examinations, education, and experience.  The CCS credential demonstrates a coding practitioner's tested data quality, integrity skills, and mastery-level of coding proficiency, while the CCS-P professional must demonstrate similar skills in a physician-based setting.
NCCA accredits programs that certify individuals in a wide range of professions including numerous nurse specialists, respiratory therapists, counselors, and emergency medical technicians. The accreditation process involves a comprehensive evaluation of the certifying agency; characteristics of the certification program; information required to be available to applicants, certificants, and the public; and recertification initiatives of the certifying agency. To maintain NCCA accreditation, certification bodies such as AHIMA are required to consistently adhere to a set of requirements or procedures related to quality, openness, and due process. AHIMA is one of 100 organizations that have received and maintained NCCA accreditation.

Source: AHIMA