Medical practices nationwide have expressed worry regarding the impact of an ICD-10
switchover, according to a recent survey finding 96 percent of
respondents concerned about the transition to the updated coding
system.
The Nuesoft Technologies sanctioned survey, “Attitudes Toward the
Transition to ICD-10 and ANSI-5010,” also showed that 73 percent of
respondents anticipate ICD-10 significantly affecting their practice,
whether it be financially or operationally.
With HHS
issuing a final rule that establishes Oct. 1, 2014 as the ICD-10
compliance deadline, physicians and medical personnel are girding
themselves for what many officials perceive to be a complex labyrinth of
documentation
.
This diagnosis code is slated to replace ICD-9 and expand the number
of diagnosis and procedural codes from 17,000 to some 155,000.
“It’s not the number,” said Barry Blumenfeld, MD, CIO of Maine
Medical Center in Portland, Maine. The complex addition of coding, he
added, “makes things very complicated for physicians choosing codes and
will require a lot of training and a lot of insight into how these codes
are different.”
Some officials say the transition to ICD-10 will be one of the most
significant changes the physician practice community has ever
undertaken. The more detailed level of specificity required by ICD-10
will impact areas of practice management processes, including
documentation, billing, workflow and quality reporting.
In addition, many practice software systems will need to be upgraded,
and physicians and responsible staff will need extensive training to
successfully make the transition.
“Most physicians are dreading the change to ICD-10 because the number
of codes and level of specificity will increase exponentially,” said
Barbara Dunn, president of MedRecovery Solutions, Inc., a large billing
firm that works with practices throughout the country to optimize
operations through appropriate coding and billing.
Julie Nobles, president of Premiere Medical Billing, echoed Dunn’s
concern. “Most physicians I have spoken with are worried about the
rollout of ICD-10 because they are not certain the increased costs and
staff hours justify the change to a new and larger set of diagnostic
codes.”
Yet, for some physicians, the impending transition is being taken in
stride. According to Robert Goldman, MD, the founding physician of
Georgia Hormones, with the proper training, the transition to ICD-10
will be doable.
“We wanted to stay ahead of the curve so the transition to ICD-10
would be as streamlined as possible," said Goldman. "Our practice coding
specialist, as well as all of our physicians, finished a course this
year all about ICD-10 and the new diagnosis codes. Even though the list
of codes will be the size of 10 Manhattan phone books, we are prepared.
In fact, Europe has been using ICD-10 codes successfully since 2002.”
The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare
Services (CMS) has stressed that ICD-10 will provide more specific data
than the 30-year-old ICD-9 and better reflect current medical
practices. CMS
indicated that the added detail embedded within ICD-10 codes will
inform health care providers and health plans of patient incidence and
history, which improves the effectiveness of case management and care
coordination functions.
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Source from healthcare IT news
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