What Medical Coding Certifications are good for me?

What are medical coding certifications and which is better?
First lets have a look at medical coding certifications that are much valued in the medical coding industry. Certifications from AHIMA and AAPC enjoy faith and value from from the employer in the medical coding industry. These certifications are as follows:

•AHIMA Medical Coding Certifications:
Certified Coding Associate (CCA)
Certified Coding Specialist (CCS)
Certified Coding Specialist-Physician-based (CCS-P)

•AAPC Medical Coding Certifications:
Certified Professional Coder (CPC)
Certified Professional Coder-Hospital (CPC-H)
Certified Professional Coder-Payer (CPC-P)

Which medical coding certification is good for me?
There is a general understanding in medical coding industry that AHIMA certifications are highly revered and advantageous than AAPC certifications. That's true, but AAPC certifications have their own advatages. AAPC certifications are designed for outpatient and ER coding, whereas AHIMA certifications are necessary for inpatient coding. So if you are an outpatient coder than AAPC is the certification you should look for, and if you plan to go for inpatient coding, than AHIMA certification is a must. Passing CCS-P or CCS certification exam is tough and requires good understading of CPT which will only come after two-three years of work experiance, so if you have less than a year of work experiance in medical coding and want to go for certification, then go for CPC which is much easy to pass than CCS.