AAPC

We have denied [redacted]'s request to view her exam.This has been communicated to her multiple times through emails and over the phone. In order to maintain exam security and credential integrity, we do not release exam materials. The exam content would be breached if released. This policy is stated in the exam agreement terms and conditions that are agreed upon when the examinee purchases the exam. The policy states "10. I understand all examinations are the sole property of AAPC and will not be returned to me. All information contained therein is strictly confidential. Additionally, no part of the examination may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means-—graphically, electronically, verbally, or mechanically, including photocopying, recording, or taping, without expressed written permission from the publisher. If this proprietary information is disclosed, I understand that such disclosure would constitute a violation of copyright laws and my certification will be revoked." Our exam department manager reviewed [redacted]'s grid and confirmed she received the correct exam. [redacted]'s overall exam score improved by 9 points from her first attempt to her second attempt. With that kind of improvement it seems that the study materials did help her prepare. If she did receive the wrong exam we would expect to see a much lower score instead of a higher score. We have provided [redacted] with free practice tests in July 2016. She has one year access which gives her use of the practice exams for test preparation through July 2017. The practice exams have been updated with the new codes for 2017 so they will be helpful to her as she prepares for her next attempt. Regarding the disruptive exam room, examinees are instructed that if at any time during the exam, if environment is not conducive to testing to stop taking the exam and contact our office and we determine if the exam should be graded based on the amount of the exam completed. This instruction is read aloud to examinees prior to the test beginning. It states "5. If at any time you feel the exam environment is distracting, you may elect to not continue with the exam. It is your responsibility to contact AAPC to reschedule. If any portion of the examination has been completed at the time you stop the test, you must contact AAPC for a review. Any concerns regarding the exam environment must be addressed with AAPC prior to exam results being released. Once AAPC has reviewed the reason you decided not to continue with your examination, AAPC may or may not choose to grade the exam." [redacted] competed her exam on 12/3/16. She did not contact our office to complain about the test environment until 12/16/16.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:  It is not satisfactory to me.  I purchased Practicode to serve as a sort of workbook -with rationale to see where the gaps in my knowledge are- where I could practice coding real cases at my leisure.  The fact that this product is a subscription service makes it much less useful to me, since I will now have to rush through the cases.  I never would have purchased it if the salesperson I spoken to had mentioned that I was purchasing a limited time subscription rather than a package for my personal use, since it would not have met my needs.  While I can understand the oversight in the information on the website, I can't help but feel that the salesperson I spoke with knew that the product was a subscription, but he never mentioned that to me.  The product I purchased is simply not the product that was sold to me, and I feel that I am due a refund.  
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Hi [redacted], We were very upfront and put a disclaimer in our ICD-10-CM that the guidelines in the book are last year’s.  This is not an unusual practice. Because the ICD-10-CM codes come out far earlier than the guidelines, and because all publishers must send ICD-10 books to...

print around Independence day to get to customers in time for the October 1 implementation date, we (as well as all other publishers) have always published our books with the previous years’ guidelines. Attached are the 2017 guidelines, which came out about the same time we received the books from the printer.Unless publishers did this, your ICD-10-CM books would not arrive in time. This is a long, long practice dating back to the late 1980s. Thank you, Alex M.AAPC

We're sorry for the response you received from our representative. Please forward your member ID number to [redacted] and we will forward your request for a review to our exam department. It may take up to 10 business days to complete the review. We appreciate your patience.

We just followed up with the AAPC representative who will be contacting you. A call is coming shortly.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
Beth G[redacted]