Home Health & Hospice Week

It’s never too early — or late — to start preparing for the coding switch.

Your plate may be full with a host of regulatory demands, but ICD-10 implementation is little more than a half-year away. Now is the perfect time to ensure your agency is preparing for the two-fold challenge: educating your staff and upgrading your computer systems. Consider this advice that will help you hone in on the basics you should be addressing now.

Switch From Paper To Electronic Billing

“ICD-10 is an excellent reason to upgrade existing computer systems,” says David A. Lubar-sky, MD, Assistant Vice President for Medical Ad-ministration with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Make your list: Your checklist for the up-grade should include:

• Will the software be able to accommodate both ICD-9 and ICD-10 in all electronic transactions?

• If not, which ones won’t support ICD-10?

• What types of training are included in the maintenance plan?

• Which will carry an additional cost?

• Are there any additional costs associated with obtaining necessary software updates?

Step Up Your Documentation

Because ICD-10 coding requires more information, providers would benefit from beginning to document now as if their claims were being submitted with ICD-10 codes, says physician Marc L. Leib in Phoenix. “By doing so, that will be second nature when such documentation is required after the transition.”

First steps: It is a good idea to make your coding staff take a look at their current top 10 ICD-9-CM codes along with their current documentation, suggests Tony Mira, president and CEO of Miramed Global Services in Jackson, Mich. “See if an ICD-10-CM trained coder can readily convert them to the new system based on their current documentation. If not, why? What are the critical pieces of information missing in the current documentation?”

For example, under ICD-10, laterality is important; does the documentation clearly identify right or left limb? “If you need to expand or capture more information to identify a billable ICD-10-CM code, you want to start making those documentation changes now to minimize the potential revenue impact following the Oct. 1, 2015, effective date,” Mira says.

Final advice: The impact of converting to ICD-10 will vary from provider to provider. “Adequate preparation and training is crucial to minimizing the financial impact. If you have yet to develop an implementation plan there is still time, but you must act now,” Mira says.