CCA (AHIMA) study guide
CCA · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Certified Coding Associate (CCA) is a health information credential administered by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), which lists it among its certifications alongside resources such as 'About The Exams,' 'Apply to Take an Exam,' and 'Recertify.' It is generally pursued by people entering the health information and coding workforce - students in HIM or coding certificate programs, new graduates, and staff moving from registration, billing, or clinical support roles into coding - as a way to demonstrate foundational coding competence before advancing to higher-level AHIMA coding credentials. Preparation usually combines a structured review of health record content and documentation, hands-on code assignment practice with the current ICD-10-CM/PCS and CPT/HCPCS code sets and official guidelines, health care data and statistics, compliance and reimbursement, and health information technology, reinforced by large volumes of practice questions with rationales. The CCA study guide has 5 sections and about 1,817 words.
01Health Record Content and Documentation
Health record content is shaped by federal Conditions of Participation, state licensure law, accreditation standards, and facility policy. A complete record documents patient identification, consent, history and physical, assessments, orders, progress notes, diagnostic and therapeutic services, operative and procedure reports, nursing notes, medication administration, discharge summary and instructions, and authentication by the responsible practitioner.
353 words, about 2 min02Clinical Coding
Coding items test both code lookup and the Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting. Learn the conventions printed in the tabular list precisely.
368 words, about 2 min03Health Care Data
Data quality characteristics include accuracy, accessibility, comprehensiveness, consistency, currency, definition, granularity, precision, relevancy, and validity. If the same element is recorded differently in two systems, the issue is consistency ; if it is simply wrong, it is accuracy .
388 words, about 2 min04Compliance and Reimbursement
Inpatient payment under IPPS uses the MS-DRG, assigned from the principal diagnosis, secondary diagnoses (CC/MCC), procedures, discharge disposition, and for some DRGs age and sex. Outpatient payment under OPPS uses APCs.
358 words, about 2 min05Information Technology
EHR content includes the clinical data repository, results management, CPOE, clinical decision support, eMAR, and the master patient index (MPI). MPI duplicates are a patient-safety risk; organizations need an enterprise MPI with defined merge/unmerge procedures.
350 words, about 2 min