ICD-10 plans are now back in full swing as we prepare for October 1, 2014 and the implementation of it. AAPC ICD-10 trainer Kathy Rowland, CPC, CEMC, CPC-I, CHC recently penned a guest blog on the topic for Advance’s Health Care POV section.
“There will be a learning curve for physicians as well as coders,” she wrote. “Consider developing a “cheat sheet” of top 50 ICD-9 codes currently being utilized in the practice. Have a trained CPC convert the current ICD-9 options to ICD-10. Be resourceful, and begin talking with your IT system staff/vendor to evaluate what tools will be available. Be aware that codes provided by a “system” may be crosswalked to unspecified codes via a matrix or GEMS file. Do not select the final code for the visit without validating it is the most specific diagnosis code supported by the documentation.”
Read the full article here.
August 31st, 2012
ICD-10′s date is once again the hottest topic in health care. AAPC VP of ICD-10 training and education is Rhonda Buckholtz, CPC, CPMA, CPC-I, CGSC, COBGC, CPEDC, CENTC and she was a recent guest for the popular ICD-10 podcast on ICD-10Monitor.com called Talk Ten Tuesday.
“We’re getting back on track with (ICD-10) implementation training so that we all have enough time to prepare and really take advantage of this extra time we were given,” she stated on the program.
Listen to the archived program by visiting the show from August 29th to listen to the full interview.
A New Date
As many of you know, CMS just announced that ICD-10 will indeed be delayed one year. You can read the full announcement here. The implementation date is now set for October 1, 2014 (the same one year delay originally announced last Spring). This gives all providers a good amount of time for implementation and preparation.
A Second Chance
For those of you who have started preparations (Congratulations!), this one year delay should not interrupt your plans but you might slightly adjust your benchmarks schedule. To assist you, we’ve updated our ICD-10 Implementation Tracker to reflect the new 2014 implementation date. For those of you who have yet to begin preparing for ICD-10, you are fortunate enough to have another year to get caught up. During the past few months, we have heard much discussion regarding preparation testing. The recent switch to 5010 standards for billing highlighted the need to properly test. As a result, we have updated our benchmark tracker to recommend some testing time prior to October 1, 2014.
What You Should Be Doing Now
Where should you start? That depends on your role. If you are part of implementing the new code set in your office, facility or practice, we believe you’ll need to fully understand all the necessary steps to implement this change. AAPC has prepared special implementation boot camps that show you all the steps necessary to accomplish a full ICD-10 implementation. These 2-day boot camps are held around the country for you to attend. We will soon add more sites and provide a schedule of implementation boot camps in early 2013.
If you are a coder and you feel you might need more anatomy and pathophysiology knowledge for the increased clinical specificity requirements of the ICD-10 codes, then you should brush up on that now. AAPC’s online ICD-10-CM Anatomy and Pathophysiology training is approved for 14 CEUs and is only $149.95.
If you are a coder who only needs to learn the codes – relax for a few months. AAPC will have general ICD-10-CM code set training available online (2nd Quarter, 2013), at a Boot Camp (July, 2013), at one of seven ICD-10 Conferences held across the country (beginning January 2014), or at our 2014 National Conference (Nashville). Specialty code set training will also be available online or at one of the seven nationwide ICD-10 Conferences and our 2014 National Conference in Nashville, TN.
An ICD-10 proficiency assessment will be available from October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2015. It is required passage for all AAPC certified coders/auditors, and recommended for anyone else with coding responsibilities within their organization. It will have 75 questions, be open-book, online, and un-proctored. Coders will have two attempts at passing for a $60 administration fee. AAPC will provide an online proficiency tool (available in September 2013) to help you prepare.
What Your Provider Should Now Do
The most important thing that can be done early is to ensure the providers document sufficiently for the increased specificity in ICD-10. Many have heard the EMR systems will handle this, but we are skeptical. AAPC, through its Physician Services business can provide a low cost documentation assessment and if there are weaknesses, education and training on proper documentation can be provided early. This will help now and in the future as it prepares each physician for the changes in ICD-10. The assessment includes a preliminary assessment of 10 dates of service, a detailed report of findings, 1/2 hour of webinar or telephone training based on those assessment results and then a follow-up assessment a few months later of another 10 dates of service to measure the results. The cost is $395 per provider. View a sample report.
Additionally, AAPC will provide a 3-hour online course (by specialty) to train providers on ICD-10-CM documentation and coding. We will have one for 20 different specialties. This will be moderated by a physician expert in ICD-10 and will address physician needs and concerns in their own ways of thinking and processing. These will be available in the summer of 2013.
Reality Check
ICD-10 is a significant change, but for coders without responsibility over ICD-10 implementation, it will NOT take years to prepare nor huge dollars. Our code set trainings will be hundreds of dollars. Our conference prices will be in their normal ranges. Our help to providers is also hundreds of dollars. And for those that desire a full training solution, we’ll have ICD-10 Code Set Bundles beginning at $645 and available beginning 2nd Quarter of 2013.
We think 16-24 hours of training and some personal practice prior to October 1, 2014 may be all that is necessary. Of course, you’ll want code books and AAPC will have those at great prices. At AAPC, we want to help you learn all you need and have all the resources necessary, but not for more money or time than is necessary. We repeat, don’t learn the codes too early – you still have to apply the ICD-9 codes until October of 2014.
For more information, free resources, and help with any of the above, please visit the ICD-10 section of our website.
Best regards,
Reed E. Pew
AAPC Chairman and CEO
August 30th, 2012
Now that ICD-10 is here for good, what does that mean for ICD-10 with superbills? Will things change and how much will they change after the 2014 implementation? Getting Paid is a practice management blog with a recent article highlighting AAPC.
“A coder or biller should ideally be mapping the codes one-by-one to determine how the changes will affect their particular practice,” stated Lisa Eramo, the author. “The General Equivalence Mappings (GEM) can be extremely helpful with this task. (AAPC) provides a three-step mapping process that coders can use in conjunction with the GEMs to cross-reference ICD-9-CM with ICD-10-CM.”
Read the full article here.
August 29th, 2012
With ICD-10-CM’s official date set at October 1, 2014 it’s time for most coding professionals to ramp again and get into that ICD-10 frame of mind. AAPC Director of ICD-10 development and training Betty Hovey, CPC, CPC-I, CPMA, CPC-H, CPCD recently wrote for Just Coding on the subject of neoplasm coding in ICD-10, and the similarities it presents to ICD-9.
“Neoplasm coding in ICD-10-CM is similar to the current ICD-9-CM coding,” she wrote. “Most benign and all malignant neoplasm codes are found in chapter 2 of ICD-10-CM, just as in ICD-9-CM. The ICD-10-CM manual includes many guidelines regarding the proper way to code them.”
Read the full article here.