ICD 10 Coding Alert

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The coding industry's reaction to the ICD-10 delay has run the gambit, but many experts caution you not to fall back into a holding pattern.

If you recently visited the Coding News (http://codingnews.inhealthcare.com/), you would have seen the current poll that asks, "How did you react to CMS delaying the implementation deadline?" Here's the voting statistics (as of publication date):

• The majority of voters -- a whopping 57% -- said "Back to procrastination phase."
• 26% of voters said, "Hip, hip, hooray!"
• 17% of voters said, "I'll keep on rolling but now I can be on time."

Warning: Going back to the procrastination phase could set you up for disaster.

Instead, you should take this as an opportunity to surge ahead of schedule, rather than finding yourself scrambling to keep up.

"When we heard the news, we didn't stop anything. We've kept on course," says Suzan Berman, CPC, CEMC, CEDC, Senior Director of Physician Services at Healthcare Revenue Assurance Associates based out of Plantation, Florida.

In other words: "We are still moving forward educating the coders (anatomy and physiology), providing regular updates in publications, and pursuing a clinical documentation improvement plan to align with ICD-10 -- when the time comes," Berman explains.

Biggest lesson: You must stay with your education action plan, as the delay could be a few months. "Even if the delay goes to a few years, you'll have to start preparing for ICD-11, so why stop preparing at all?" Berman says.

Want to be heard? Email your reaction to the ICD-10 Coding Alert editor at suzannel@codinginstitute.com.