ICD 10 Coding Alert

You have no more excuses to put off ICD-10 training. 

If you were hoping for an ICD-10 delay like last year, then prepare for disappointment. The US Senate repealed the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula without any mention of an ICD-10 delay, thus ensuring the ICD-10 implementation date momentum.  

"ICD-10 needs to happen, and I'm glad to know there is no further delay," says Suzan Hauptman, MPM, CPC, CEMC, CEDC, director of coding operations at Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, Pa. "Millions of dollars have been spent in testing, educating, and implementation planning. We are ready. And if we aren't ready, we need to get ready - and fast!"

Unlike last year, when House leadership slid a last minute rider into the SGR legislation (the third postponement in six years), you have no more leeway when it comes to getting your practice ready for ICD-10.

You may know that ICD-10 is the mandated replacement of ICD-9 code sets that you've been using right now to report diagnoses and procedures, but if you're afraid to make the shift, then take heart. "No one was born knowing ICD-9 yet we all know it," Hauptman says. "ICD-10 is different, but we'll learn it and we'll thrive in it. It makes sense. It helps coders by having the physician document in further detail. It helps insurance companies to understand the truer picture of the patient. It certainly will help with outcomes as staff will understand the condition of the patient. And certainly the bottom line reimbursement will be more substantiated with the more detailed documentation. We need this, and I'm glad to see it's moving forward."

Rely on the ICD-10 Coding Alert to help you prepare for this radical change to your physician's documentation and your coding process.