# ICD-9 to ICD-10 conversion



## Melonyr (Aug 20, 2015)

Those of you that have done any crosswalking from ICD-9 codes to ICD-10 codes, pardon me for asking, but what is the average number you can code per hour?  I am talking about codes that don't map one to one, where you have to review the medical to find the appropriate side of body/level of spine etc.

Thanks!


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## mitchellde (Aug 20, 2015)

I find it faster and easier to use a code book.  The crosswalks:
-do not contain all the ICD-10 CM possibilities
-Are hard to search
-Do not account for the thousands of codes not currently in the ICD-9 coding system.
The ICD-10 CM code set is well constructed, it has an easy to understand structure and consistent patterns.  It is truely very fast and easy to use the code book every time.  It takes me much less time per claim than ICD-9 and I am finished in much less time than those around me that use a crosswalk or mapping.


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## Melonyr (Aug 21, 2015)

Thanks for your response, but can you give me an estimate of how many codes per hour?  I'm just asking so I can set a realistic expectation.


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## mitchellde (Aug 21, 2015)

Codes per hour?? Golly I can do a lot say 200 to 300 just assigning dx codes.


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## Melonyr (Aug 24, 2015)

You can code a diagnosis every 3 seconds?  What medical are you having to reference?  Is it with a program or manually?  If you have to read the medical and manually look up the code in the book 3 seconds seems faster than you could open the index, much less the tablular...


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## mitchellde (Aug 24, 2015)

Sorry that you disbelieve but I am very fast and I read every note.  You asked how many diagnosis codes I can assign in an hour.  I have been practice coding with ICD-10 CM since 2011.  I understand the system and it works really fast when you understand it.  That is a realistic number for me.  I have always been able to do this fast when I have a code book.  The software just slows me down.  Three seconds is actuallynrealistic for me to look up codes, no it does not take that long to open the book and read the record.


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## Melonyr (Aug 24, 2015)

Thanks, I can't use that type of expectation for the project I am looking at.  We would be digging through records up to 10-12 years old attempting to convert ICD-9 allowances to ICD-10 allowances.

Thanks again.


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