Home Health ICD-9/ICD-10 Alert

Do things right the first time and prevent future headaches.

"We [coders] must obtain education and provide education," says Jan McLain, RN, BS, LNC, HCS-D, COS-C with Adventist Health System Home Care in Port Charlotte, Fla. To that end, you should:

• Have a copy of the OASIS manual on your desk in addition to your ICD-9 Coding Manual.

• Know how Medicare or the payer is billed. Know how the payment is calculated. Have a copy of the Medicare Claims Processing Manual.

• Set up your processes to review all the information that the clinician submits for the start of care, resumption of care or recert OASIS and the plan of care.

• Let your employer know immediately when you see a regulatory issue.

• Identify weaknesses or trends and talk to your employer, supervisors, educators, or clinicians.

• Read the coding magazines. Suggest discussion on a particular article at a staff meeting.

• Teach others what you know. The worst thing a coder can do is sit in the back room, add numbers to the diagnoses listed and put no additional thought or input into the care process, says McLain.

Follow this basic standard: Anything that does not make sense to you can and should be explained, verified,and clarified at the beginning of the episode before that plan of care ever goes to the physician or that OASIS gets submitted, McLain says. Do it right the first time.

If you follow these strategies and get involved with the agency, your employer will notice and value what you bring to the organization.