As a home health coder, you must be well-aware of the 2013 deadline for moving to the ICD-10 diagnosis. As such, your home health agency needs to prepare for it from now itself if it wants to make a smooth transition. In fact the transition will call for a lot of training and preparation. However, the actual training cant be done too far out from the implementation date.
Here are a few strategies thatll help you and your home health agency in making a smooth transition:
First you need to create a planning committee. Home health agencies should form a committee that covers everyone who touches coding.
Calculate your training costs. Home health agencies will need to put aside money not just for training costs, but to cover the loss of productivity while staff is training.
Figure out the productivity impact of training.
You should practice with a dual system. Begin running a dual system for claims submission six months before the implementation date.
If you want your home health agency to make a smooth transition and want to get the latest on home health coding, you can do so by attending a home health audio conference for home health organizations.
When you sign up for such conferences, not only will you get to know all the changes that this year has brought about, but also stay up-to-speed with OASIS-C changes, staging pressure ulcers correctly, among other things. You will also come to know everything pertaining to home health coding. So get going.