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Source On: Medical billing star

Practices concerned over ICD-10 switchover, survey says

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

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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

ICD-10 Delay May Not Be Enough for Physicians

Physicians and practice administrators can breathe a little easier. On August 24, HHS officially announced the ICD-10  HIPAA compliance date delay from Oct. 1, 2013 to Oct. 1, 2014.

HHS said the decision to finalize the delay, first proposed in April, is due to the fact that providers and other entities need “more time to prepare and fully test their systems to ensure a smooth and coordinated transition by all covered entities.”

Still, some physicians say that while they are pleased with the one-year delay, HHS should have done more.

"The AMA appreciates the administration's decision to provide a one-year delay in response to AMA advocacy, but we have urged CMS to do more to reduce the regulatory burdens on physician practices so physicians can spend more time with patients,” emergency care physician Steven J. Stack, AMA board chair, said in a statement. “The AMA recommended that CMS delay the move to ICD-10 by a minimum of two years."

The movement toward ICD-10, which will require physicians and staff to contend with 68,000 codes — five times as many as they currently deal with — comes at the wrong time, Stack said, noting that physicians are already dealing with a variety of stressors, including transitioning to new delivery and payment models.

“The implementation of ICD-10 will create more challenges for physicians when our Medicare system is broken and cannot provide adequate funding to cover the cost of these additional administrative burdens,” he said.

Medical Group Management Association and American College of Medical Practice Executives (MGMA-ACMPE) president Susan Turney said the organization also has concerns despite the delay.

The MGMA is “not confident that critical trading partners, including Medicare and state Medicaid plans, will be ready in time to conduct testing well in advance of the October 2014 compliance date,” Turney said in a statement. “We urge CMS to significantly escalate its implementation efforts by pilot testing ICD-10, ensuring health plan, clearinghouse and vendor readiness, and developing comprehensive educational resources.”

But Steve Sisko, a healthcare and business technology expert specializing in ICD-10, told HealthcareIT News, that if HHS had delayed the compliance date for more than one year, it could have harmful effects for the ICD-10 transition overall.

"A delay beyond one year would probably cause most people to mothball the entire project, while the Oct 1, 2014 deadline keeps momentum going and maintains the value of work already done,” he said.

And AHIMA CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon said that now at least, physicians and other entities have a deadline with which they can work toward.

“ICD-10-CM/PCS implementation is inevitable, but today’s news gives the healthcare community the certainty and clarity it needs to move forward with implementation, testing, and training,” Lynne said in a statement.

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source from Physicians Practice