Policy & Regulation News

ICD-10 Countdown Call to Present New Implementation Updates

By Jacqueline DiChiara

- ICD-10 implementation begins in only 35 days as the Y2K of healthcare creeps closer. Although Y2K came and went without a hitch, will ICD-10 see a similar uneventful fate? As time more expediently ticks onward, healthcare providers, physicians, and hospital executives, to name merely a few groups, face collective uncertainty and apprehension regarding what comes next at this stage in the ICD-10 game.

ICD-10 implementation provider resources

To help better prepare and educate the healthcare industry, this week’s two-hour long nationwide "Countdown to ICD-10” MLN Connects National Provider Call on Thursday, August 27, 2015 beginning at 2:30PM EST features Sue Bowman from the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and  Nelly Leon-Chisen from the American Hospital Association (AHA).

Bowman and Leon-Chisen are set to discuss ICD-10 coding guidance and tips, results from acknowledgement and end-to-end testing weeks, top provider resources, and explain information regarding updates from CMS. Registration for the event ends shortly. Andy Slavitt, CMS’s Acting Administrator, will open the call with a national implementation update.

According to CMS, this information is specifically targeted towards medical coders, physicians, physician office staff, nurses, non-physician practitioners, provider billing staff, health records staff, vendors, educators, system maintainers, laboratories, and Medicare providers.

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  • Although CMS and the American Medical Association (AMA) announced a collaborative deal last month about payment flexibility to help avoid financial disruption and alleviate what AMA President Steven J. Stack referred to as widespread ICD-10 apprehension from physicians come October 1 regarding the possibility of quite severe claims disruptions, physician resistance to ICD-10 has yet to dissipate. It is hopeful the call will help address such issues.

    Said Slavitt in a letter to healthcare providers last month, upcoming ICD-10 implementation will indeed set the stage for advanced patient care and public health surveillance, thereby advancing the identification of illness and greater coordination of patient care. Slavitt added within the letter that ICD-10 will also create greater opportunities for public health research and emergency response. New payment models that help to advance quality care and enhance fraud detection efforts, he maintained, will only be advantageous to the healthcare industry come October 1, 2015.

    As Bowman explained last April to RevCycleIntelligence.com, the cost for implementing ICD-10 for a small physician practice is a few thousand dollars as opposed to the hundreds of thousands of dollars some had originally projected. There is no reason expect significant disruption or lengthy payment delays if adequate preparation has been implemented, said Bowman. An additional ICD-10 delay would not prove beneficial, even for those lagging behind, Bowman adds.

    As EHRIntelligence.com reported, last year, Bowman claimed there are detrimental costs of continuing to use the “outdated” ICD-9-M coding system. Bowman maintained healthcare data will continuously decline the longer ICD-9 is in use. Such will result in inaccurate decisions associated with imprecise data, she stated.

    The upcoming call is only one of many efforts from CMS to promote ICD-10 readiness. CMS offered its top 5 steps for ICD-10 readiness when the official 100-day countdown began and also provided answers to healthcare providers’ top concerns last month. The ICD-10 conversation about the impending Y2K of healthcare nonetheless continues.