Another delay in ICD-10? Survey results say "not likely". A survey conducted by QualiTest with healthcare executives found that 83% expect the transition to proceed as planned (Medical Economics, 2015, p. 13).
SO! A great article from Medical Economics for your benefit. It includes some tips for providers to further ready yourselves for October 1st. For those, doctors and nurses, that may have favorites saved that include ICD-9's, now is the time to start changing to ICD-10's and beat the rush!
Contact any of the HELP Desks if you need help! If you are interested in getting your new codes for future use, you might contact the coders in your department for some help.
Source Image: Getty Images, 2015
Physician Readiness
"In most small or independent medical practices, physicians are likely selecting their own diagnosis codes for ICD-9 and will continue to do so for ICD-10. There is significant benefit to having coding happen as close to the point of origin as possible, meaning that the person who provides the care is usually best suited to code the encounter, says Whaley. However, clinicians who do their own coding may need more preparation than those who don’t.
Fortunately, physicians needn’t worry about memorizing all 68,000 codes or poring over every chapter of the codebook. Instead, experts recommend focusing on just the 50 to 100 codes a physician will use on a regular basis.
To do so, create a list of the top ICD-9 codes used in the practice, by provider, for the past 12 months, and compile a list of corresponding ICD-10 codes. While there are a few codes that are the one-to-one equivalent of each other, most ICD-9 codes will have multiple, more specific, ICD-10 codes with which to become familiar.
Once you narrow down the codes you’ll focus on, you can create tools such as cheat sheets, or load pick lists into your software to help physicians. Multiple training modalities exist, from webinars to on-site consulting to having your internal coders meet with doctors" (Beaulieu-Volk, 2015).
