ICD-10, Are You Ready?

[Brandi Boren]

It seems as though ICD-10 has been the buzz around the hospital for some time now, but are we ready? I don’t know about other hospitals, but I can tell you we will be ready. Our coding manager is on top of things, so I will tell you about some things that we are doing to get ready for the big event.
In April our coders started Anatomy and Pathophysiology training to enhance their skills before full on ICD-10 training. Our coding manager will be attending an education conference in August on “ICD-10 Expertise to Lead the Education Path for our Staff.” We use 3M as an encoder so three months prior to ICD-10 we will be using ‘dual coding” meaning we will be using ICD-9 and ICD-10 so that we can identify the differences and lack of documentation and that way we can educate and adjust work processes. Our inpatient coders will be affected the most because procedure codes will be seven digits using alpha numeric characters compared to the current four digit numerical codes used in ICD-9.
Some people may not realize, but two important people that need to be educated are physicians and clinical documentation specialists. The key to surviving ICD-10 is having documentation that supports the specificity of diagnoses and procedures. We will conduct end-to-end testing to ensure that all software is compatible with the transition and we will also be testing with our vendors and payors to make sure their systems can accommodate the transition as well. Outpatient coders will continue to code with CPT codes for procedures so they will need intensive training in the ICD-10 for diagnosis coding only.
So as you can see our coding manager and coders will be busy training and getting ready for ICD-10 while keeping up with their current coding jobs. There will also be education and training outside of Medical Records for physicians. This will be a big change for hospitals, coders, and physicians so make sure you are ready. I hope that I was able to give you some insight on what we are doing and maybe it will help you with your education and training. This all just makes me glad I am not a coder.

Brandi Boren has worked for Jennie Stuart Medical Center in Medical Records for seven years and has four years experience with McKesson including Horizon Patient Folder, Paragon Medical Records, and Webstation for Physicians.

[Brandi Boren]

Yes, of course you can use my blog. I am happy to help out in any way that I can. If you have any questions just let me know.

[McK Revenue Mgmt Consultants]

Brandi - we would love to include this write-up, as well as some other thoughts you might have on how you are preparing for ICD-10, to our McKesson blog.  You tell a great story that we know other hospitals will want to hear!  [e-mail]