Looking Beyond ICD-10

We all know October 1^st 2014 ICD – 10 will implement, here is small preparation guide. If you follow the small steps we can happily say bye to ICD-9 and welcome ICD-10.

Deadline:  

ICD stand for International classification of diseases is the standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes. ICD-10 was endorsed by the Forty-third World Health Assembly in May 1990 and came into use in WHO Member States as from 1994. 

The code set allows more than 14,400 different codes and permits the tracking of many new diagnoses. The codes can be expanded to over 16,000 codes by using optional sub-classifications. The detail reported by ICD can be further increased, with a simplified multi-axial approach, by using codes meant to be reported in a separate data field.

Many countries all ready started using ICD-10, United Sates is trying to implement from 2009 and fixed the deadline as October 1^st 2014, so how well physicians, Medical staff, front office staffs, Billing team, IT Teams are really prepared about ICD-10? 

5010 is the key:

Experience is the best teacher; we already have an experience on implementing 5010. By this time every team should be aware where we are lacking “Training, Testing & Communicating”.

Training, Testing & Effective communicating:

Training

So many third parties are available to train your team through online or direct workshop. Form a team from by selecting your key resources from all the departments. Once selected your ICD-10 team start train them even if you have more than one year time period.

Testing:

Speak with your software & clearing house vendors, most of the Software and Clearing house are already waiting for ICD-10. Test your claims by sending few dummy claims. And look for any rejection and feedback from your clearing house.

Communicate:

Before testing sit with your team and have a discussion and document all the inputs. Make a note of your tested claims. Share all the details to your team about the positive and negative. All the details have to be communicated to all the resources. Irrespective of hierarchy!

Remember the cause:

Accurate billing and Quality of services

ICD-10-CM and -PCS offer greater detail and increased ability to accommodate new technologies and procedures. The codes have the potential to provide better data for evaluating and improving the quality of patient care. For example, data captured by the code sets could be used in more meaningful ways to better understand complications, design clinically robust algorithms, and track care outcomes. 

Many quality measures rely on ICD-9-CM codes. Increasing the detail and better depicting severity will help clarify the connection between a provider’s performance and the patient’s condition. In addition, ICD-10-CM greatly expands the codes for medical complications and medical safety issues.

Complete, accurate, and up-to-date procedure codes will improve data on the outcomes, efficacy, and costs of new medical technology and ensure fair reimbursement policies for the use of this technology. Expanded detail will help payers and providers more easily identify patients in need of disease management and more effectively tailor disease management programs.

Finally revenue loss:

ICD-9 to ICD-10 conversion will

defiantly it will pinch the physicians pocket by ten percentages or more, staff training, Productivity and system changes etc.,

((Quote: If two wrongs don't make a right, try three))