ICD-10: Identify documentation improvement opportunities now

ICD-10: Identify documentation improvement opportunities now

It's true that you shouldn't start with your intensive, in-depth ICD-10 training until six to nine months prior to implementation; however you can gear up in other ways too.

To prepare yourself for ICD-10, you must start identifying medical record documentation improvement opportunities. The new system won't require you to improve your documentation, however the higher the quality of your documentation, the easier it will be to avoid using unspecified codes and the faster you will land the right ICD-10 code.

Apart from this, you can start learning the basic structure organization and unique features of ICD-10, and pep up your knowledge of biomedical concepts so you won't be tripped up by more improved code definitions and descriptions.

Someone asked if she can start testing and using ICD-10 before October 1, 2013 if her practice is ready.

The answer is you can certainly do some internal testing of ICD-10 and also of your 5010 system. What you cannot do is to submit ICD-10 codes to any payers for services before October 1, 2013. Also, you can work with software vendors ahead of time to confirm that no issues will exist with claims submissions using the new system.

Another person asked whether CMS will revise the CMS-1500 form to make room for ICD-10's longer codes. Starting on or after January 1, 2011, CMS (and I'm sure other payers) will be all geared up to accept claims using the 5010 format, which has a lot of improvements, one of which is it'll accept more characters for your codes.

To help yourself prepare for the change, sign up for a one-stop medical coding guide and stay ahead of the rest.

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