Even though it's still early to start studying and learning ICD-10 codes, at this point you should at least take a look at codes you commonly assign to get a sense of the changes and to see whether...
What is your organization doing to plan for the transition to ICD-10? Have you formed an ICD-10 implementation committee? Have coding staff members attended any recent educational sessions, such as...
It is widely known that ICD-10 is going to be much more specific than ICD-9. While that is true, there are some ICD-9 codes that will not be as specific in ICD-10. Here are two examples: ICD-9 codes...
In a recent JustCoding.com mini-poll, we asked subscribers the following question: Has your organization established a timeline for the transition to ICD-10? This is the breakdown of the 151...
As I heaved my ICD-9 Manual , projector, and laptop into the overhead bin on my flight home from Atlanta this past Friday after teaching an inpatient coding boot camp, a thought occurred to me: What...
How much ICD-10 training are you ready for today? The American Health Information Management Association states: It would be impractical and a waste of resources and time to start training coders now...
In a previous blog , I discussed how CMS was considering freezing updates to the ICD-9-CM and ICD-10 coding systems prior to the October 1, 2013 implementation. Many in the industry have said that...
Although the health care community is primarily focusing on the implementation to ICD-10 in 2013, a critical step before the new coding system takes effect is the switch to transaction standard...
CMS recently posted on its Web site a presentation titled "Introduction to ICD-10-CM/PCS: For Physician Specialty Group Representatives." In addition to CMS representative Pat Brooks, a number of...
CMS recently posted a very good document titled ICD-10-CM/PCS Myths & Facts , which clarified many myths regarding ICD-10 and specified facts upon which you should base your plan for...
CMS has created a tool that can help ease the process for mapping out equivalent codes between ICD-9 and ICD-10. On May 19, CMS hosted an ICD-10-CM/PCS implementation and General Equivalence Mappings...
ICD-10 will bring a lot of welcome changes and correct many of the issues and shortcomings with ICD-9. One particular source of confusion with ICD-9 relates to the excludes notes. In ICD-9, the...
You might be far enough along in your ICD-10 implementation timeline to attend some informational sessions that go beyond the basics. "You're going to see more companies advertising functional...
One of the many things that will be affected in order to accommodate the ICD-10 codes is the format of electronic claims. CMS recently announced that it receives more than 99% of the Medicare Part A...
On May 19, CMS hosted a conference call during which it addressed the use of General Equivalence Mappings (GEMs). A transcript of the call is now available on the CMS Web site . CMS representative...
Since the Department of Health and Human Services' January announcement on the final rule for the implementation of ICD-10, many questions have popped up. Some in the industry feel that if they do...
Since we have talked and read globally about ICD-10, I thought we should turn the pages a little deeper and look at some commonly used codes and see what they will look like October 1, 2013, when the...
One of the most poorly documented and miscoded diagnosis is when a physician documents the term "urosepsis." Does the physician mean that the patient has a systemic infection originating from a...
With all the complexities related to the implementation of ICD-10, it's no wonder that so many in the healthcare industry have a number of questions related to the various aspects of this new coding...
Discussions are starting regarding ICD-10, and there are many rumblings in the coding community. Just like anything else, something new and different can bring on feelings of being overwhelmed. Yes,...
