CMS Explores ICD-10 Scenarios with Interactive Case Studies
By - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a series of interactive case studies intended to enhance and advance the healthcare industry’s collective ICD-10 documentation comprehension.
The ICD-10 countdown is formally in full swing. With only 111 days remaining until the October 1, 2015 ICD-10 compliance date, CMS’s Road to 10 case studies present clinical scenarios, brief quizzes about coding concepts, and documentation advice.
CMS’s Road to 10 “includes specialty references and helps providers build ICD-10 action plans tailored for their practice needs,” confirms CMS. Whether your specialty is within the realm of family practice, pediatrics, OB/GYN, cardiology, orthopedics, internal medicine, etc, CMS maintains the Road to 10 readiness action plan can jumpstart your ICD-10 readiness through specialized advice according to your practice’s needs, size, technology utilization, and payer interaction efforts.
According to CMS, for instance, an internal medicine practice with 3-6 physicians utilizing both Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and clearinghouses that submits claims directly to a Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) and Medicaid and is in the “assessment” phase regarding its ICD-10 journey, should spend the month of June concentrating on:
- Obtaining clinical documentation education
- Obtaining coding education
- Obtaining ICD-10 overview education
- Improving clinical documentation
- Engaging technology vendors and updating systems
- Preparing or obtaining test cases
- Performing internal testing of systems and processes
- Conducting external testing with partners
It is hopeful such resources from CMS will prove valuable for the healthcare industry in terms of furthering ICD-10 preparation within the next 111 days and will positively address gaps within some healthcare practices' efforts.
CMS plans future celebratory efforts as uncertainty reigns
CMS’s aforementioned interactive case studies efforts are only one puzzle piece regarding its proposed broader summer evaluative initiatives prior to the October 1 ICD-10 implementation deadline.
As October looms nearer, the healthcare industry is entering a marked time of valuable reflection and “celebration,” CMS states. The fiftieth anniversary of the enactment of Amendments to the Social Security Act must be vitally recognized as the foundation of affordable, quality healthcare coverage, says CMS.
Over the next couple of months, CMS confirms the advancement of active Medicare and Medicaid reflection and the fruitful promotion of industry-wide discussion about what’s next on the horizon for healthcare providers.
“The 50th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid provides an important opportunity for us to reflect on the critical role these programs have played in protecting the health and well-being of millions of families,” states Andy Slavitt, Acting Administrator of CMS. “Medicare and Medicaid are creating a health care system that is better, smarter, and healthier – setting standards for how care is delivered,” he maintains. Reflecting upon the past 5 decades may help the industry consider where new concentrations are needed for future generations, says Slavitt.
As the healthcare industry currently sits within this uniquely dual realm of both celebrative reflection upon beneficial progression and detrimental ICD-10 uncertainty, it is hopeful the remainder of the year will unfold more seamlessly than anticipated as further initiatives from CMS are revealed.
