Cross-training coders has definitive short-term advantages, such as enhancing staff coverage during holidays and vacations and increasing the department's ability to handle periods of fluctuation in certain bill types, but these aren't the only benefits.
Coders may find assigning codes for sepsis somewhat easier in ICD-10-CM, but they will still face some challenges. The first of those challenges, and probably the biggest, centers on physician documentation.
ICD-10 implementation challenges will vary from organization to organization, depending on size, setting, and patient mix. Factor in physician buy-in and budget woes, and implementation seems overwhelming.
The additions and revisions to the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting in 2012 include some new information that coders should be aware of in preparation for ICD-10-CM/PCS implementation. Sandy Nicholson, MA, RHIA, and Shelley C. Safian, PhD, MAOM/HSM, CCS-P, CPC-H, CPC-I, CHA, explore some of the biggest guideline changes.
The optical system is the most complex organ system of the human body and is subject to specific disease processes. Shelley C. Safian, PhD, RHIA, CCS-P, COC, CPC-I, AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer explains how to code some common eye diseases and treatments in ICD-10.
Assess. Educate/train. Practice. Gloryanne Bryant, RHIA, CCS, CDIP, CCDS, and Deborah Grider, CPC, CPC-I, CPC-H, CPC-P, CPMA, CEMC, CPCD, COBGC, CCS-P CDIP, reveal how following those three steps can prepare you for ICD-10 implementation.
I have been musing recently about things I've written for this journal over the past years. Hard to believe I've been doing monthly educational articles regarding the clinical aspects of coding since about 2002.
