GeBBS Healthcare Blog

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, it is October 1, 2015 and new HOPE has come about. We have come through a period of civil strife; rebel space ships -- forcing a complete change to our coding system -- have ceased to strike from hidden bases. A little history on this struggle -- the World Health Organization created the basis for ICD-10 in 1994. The Clinical Modification (CM) was added in the U.S. by the National Center for Health Statistics to create ICD-10-CM for use in inpatient and outpatient diagnosis coding. The move to mandate this new coding system for all healthcare providers created great consternation throughout the galaxy.

Early test results reported in Becker’s Hospital Review from data gathered by HIMSS and WEDI indicate that only 63% of ICD-10 documentation was accurately coded.   In addition, coders averaged only two medical records per hour, compared with four per hour under ICD-9, which equates to a 50 percent drop in productivity.

Is your clinical documentation ready for ICD-10? CMS has prepared a guide called Simple Steps to Improve Clinical Documentation; it’s worth your time to review it.

One of the worst things that can happen to an airplane pilot is to suffer a stall; that means -- more than likely -- a crash is imminent. Without proper planning, your revenue cycle is headed for a stall after the October 1, 2014 ICD-10 transition deadline. It’s critical that you devise a strategy NOW to avoid an ICD-10 claims backlog and a deadly stall for your accounts receivable.

The healthcare industry is justifiably apprehensive about the impending transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10. Between claim denials from incorrect coding and coders taking more time to deal with the new system, billing is more than likely to slow down considerably. However, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) officials are saying that preparation and planning should keep providers’ accounts receivable from collapsing completely. The agency knows there are going to be claim denials, but they also contend there are ways to avoid many of them.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) Central Office director of coding and classification Nelly Leon-Chisen, RHIA, has authored the 2014 edition of the ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS Coding Handbook, which was published recently and is now available.

MGMA is "extremely concerned" that Medicare has announced it will not be conducting ICD-10 end-to-end testing with external trading partners, including physician practices, says the group's  CEO. 

There is a definite upside to this change-over.

Seldom has any mandate or compliance regulation had the potential to disrupt, so severely, the revenue stream of almost every healthcare provider. The transition to ICD-10 is going to require one of the most intense and longest learning curves in the history of U.S. healthcare. As everyone is aware, proper coding of the care delivered is critical to your reimbursements.Moving from ICD-9 to ICD-10 is going to be a giant leap -- not a baby step.