The Medical field and Americans together have been greatly affected by ObamaCare through the past 3 years. Now the medical field is preparing for another huge change and that is coding claims system of ICD-9 where the codes are 3-5 numeric system to a transition to ICD-10 which is a 3-7 numeric system.
ICD-9 is a 30 year old system, has outdated terms, and is inconsistent with current medical practice. ICD-9 limits the number of new codes that can be created and many ICD-9 categories are full.
*However, has [WHO] World Health Organization, [HHS] Health & Human Services, & the Government considered the doctors, nurses, physician assistants who will have to type in the codes for each of these procedures for the inpatients?
These doctors, nurses, and PA's are already overwhelmed with busy days seeing patients, contacting insurance companies for pre-authorizations and now they have to learn a new system for coding.
The deadline for the United States to begin using Clinical Modification ICD-10-CM for diagnosis coding and Procedure Coding System ICD-10-PCS for inpatient hospital procedure coding is currently October 1, 2014.[11] The deadline was previously October 1, 2013.[12][13] All HIPAA "covered entities" must make the change; a pre-requisite to ICD-10 is the adoption of EDI Version 5010 by January 1, 2012.[14] Enforcement of 5010 transition by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), however, was postponed by CMS until March 31, 2012, with the federal agency citing numerous factors, including slow software upgrades.[15] The implementation of ICD-10 has been subject to previous delays. In January 2009, the date was pushed back by two years, to October 1, 2013 rather than a prior proposal of October 1, 2011.[16]
Even though the deadline for ICD-10 has been pushed back repeatedly, CMS recommends that medical practices take several years to prepare for implementation of the new code set.[17] The basic structure of the ICD-10 code is the following: Characters 1-3 (the category of disease); 4 (etiology of disease); 5 (body part affected), 6 (severity of illness) and 7 (placeholder for extension of the code to increase specificity) .[18] Not only must new software be installed and tested, but medical practices must provide training for physicians, staff members, and administrators. They will also need to develop new practice policies and guidelines, and update paperwork and forms. For convenience, practices may also create "crosswalks" that will convert their most frequently used ICD-9 codes to the ICD-10 equivalents.
Quite a few others countries have converted to ICD-10 previously. Are we behind times? Are we afraid of change?
I say, don't fix it if it's not broke. I'd rather my doctor spend time with me rather than coding.
http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/ICD10/Downloads/ICD10_Introduction_060413%5B1%5D.pdf
ICD-9 is a 30 year old system, has outdated terms, and is inconsistent with current medical practice. ICD-9 limits the number of new codes that can be created and many ICD-9 categories are full.
*However, has [WHO] World Health Organization, [HHS] Health & Human Services, & the Government considered the doctors, nurses, physician assistants who will have to type in the codes for each of these procedures for the inpatients?
These doctors, nurses, and PA's are already overwhelmed with busy days seeing patients, contacting insurance companies for pre-authorizations and now they have to learn a new system for coding.
The deadline for the United States to begin using Clinical Modification ICD-10-CM for diagnosis coding and Procedure Coding System ICD-10-PCS for inpatient hospital procedure coding is currently October 1, 2014.[11] The deadline was previously October 1, 2013.[12][13] All HIPAA "covered entities" must make the change; a pre-requisite to ICD-10 is the adoption of EDI Version 5010 by January 1, 2012.[14] Enforcement of 5010 transition by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), however, was postponed by CMS until March 31, 2012, with the federal agency citing numerous factors, including slow software upgrades.[15] The implementation of ICD-10 has been subject to previous delays. In January 2009, the date was pushed back by two years, to October 1, 2013 rather than a prior proposal of October 1, 2011.[16]
Even though the deadline for ICD-10 has been pushed back repeatedly, CMS recommends that medical practices take several years to prepare for implementation of the new code set.[17] The basic structure of the ICD-10 code is the following: Characters 1-3 (the category of disease); 4 (etiology of disease); 5 (body part affected), 6 (severity of illness) and 7 (placeholder for extension of the code to increase specificity) .[18] Not only must new software be installed and tested, but medical practices must provide training for physicians, staff members, and administrators. They will also need to develop new practice policies and guidelines, and update paperwork and forms. For convenience, practices may also create "crosswalks" that will convert their most frequently used ICD-9 codes to the ICD-10 equivalents.
Quite a few others countries have converted to ICD-10 previously. Are we behind times? Are we afraid of change?
I say, don't fix it if it's not broke. I'd rather my doctor spend time with me rather than coding.
http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/ICD10/Downloads/ICD10_Introduction_060413%5B1%5D.pdf
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