Just announced in the BC Advantage e-newsletter, the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) released information collected from their 2007 Salaray Survey. Please read below for some highlights of the survey’s findings.

Certified coders earn an average of 17 percent more than their non-certified counterparts, according to the 2007 salary survey by the American Academy of Professional Coders, the nation’s largest education and credentialing organization for medical coders.

Other highlights from the survey include:

• Administrators and consultants brought in the most money, both averaging more than $85,000 a year.
• Coding professionals with master’s degrees took a huge leap this year, earning more than $85,000 a year – last year’s survey showed those with master’s degrees earned an average of $55,000 annually.
• Coders with bachelor’s degrees earned between $40,000 – $45,000; coders with some college earned $30,000 – $35,000 a year.
• Eight percent of coders with specialty credentials earned more than $85,000 annually.
• Location, location, location: coders in urban settings earned more than those in rural or suburban areas.

“Each year, our salary survey shows a consistent difference between certified and non-certified coder salaries,” said Sheri Poe Bernard, CPC, CPC-H, CPC-P, vice president of member relations at AAPC. “At AAPC, we are constantly working to help more coding professionals get certified and into higher paying jobs. We are also increasing the value of credentials daily, making our certified coders more competitive in the industry.”

• This year, 5,155 certified and non-certified coders participated in the salary survey. To view the full results and a break down of average salary by title, look in this month’s issue of Coding Edge magazine or visit AAPC’s Web site.