MDS Alert

Prepare for ICD-10 now to get a step ahead of the learning and software curve -- especially since the proposed rule implementing the new system may become final. That's the key advice from presenters at a Nov. 12 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services-sponsored ICD-10 national provider call. "Vendors are participating in the comment process and you should initiate a dialogue with your vendor to determine whether they're aware of ICD-10 and are proceeding with ways to incorporate it," explained Pat Brooks, RHIA, a technical advisor with CMS. "We have not put out a final rule, and until such time as there's a definitive date to move forward, I don't believe it would be possible for many vendors to have a firm timeline yet" for ICD-10 conversion, Brooks advised.

For facilities worried that nailing down the ICD-10 system will take months of training, study findings presented during the CMS call may be reassuring. Last May, a formal testing process took place to "assess the functionality and utility of applying ICD-10 codes to actual medical records in a variety of healthcare settings and assess the level of coding training required," according to Sue Bowman, RHIA, CCS, director of coding policy and compliance at the American Health Information Management Association. Bowman shared information about the trial run during the Nov. 12 call. During the testing, credentialed health information management professionals who had no prior ICD-10 experience coded 6,177 medical records. Prior to the test, the participants received two hours of non-interactive training, and their coding accuracy and understanding of how to use ICD-10 were "surprisingly good," Bowman said. Plus, results showed that ICD-10 was found to be a "significant improvement" over ICD-9, and ICD-10 was more applicable to non-hospital settings than ICD-9, Bowman said.

To read more about ICD-10, or to review the presentation from the provider call, visit the CMS Web site at http://www.cms/hhs/gov/1CD10