Radiology Coding Alert

Mark the beginning of the New Year with a resolution of educating yourself for ICD-10 diagnosis codes and updates. You may have prepared hard to adopt ICD-10 in 2016 and it is now important that you keep up the vigor and accurately submit the diagnosis codes. “Educate and train on the 2017 ICD-10 CM changes,” says Marchelle Cagle, CPC, CPC-I, PCS, of Cagle Medical Consulting in Birmingham, Ala.

Where to look for codes: Ensure that you’ve ordered your 2017 ICD-10 CM books. The ICD-10 CM changes are also published online: www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/ICD10/2017-ICD-10-CM-and-GEMs.html. “The sooner the practice gets to know how any change affects them the better,” Cagle says. “There are many free webinars out right now to ensure a practice gets ICD-10 CM change training.”

Keep pace with updates: “Another important thing to remember is to make sure the practice management systems [are] fully updated with the 2017 codes. Some software companies have their clients download these files themselves,” Cagle says.