ICD-10

09/APRIL/2014


ICD-10 Delay:

So, who is relieved?

1. Some Ill-Prepared Core Vendors: Not all providers are confident that their core vendors are ready for the transition.  “Our core vendor will be breathing a deep sigh of relief because they are not ready.”

2. CMS and Payers: Many providers report that payers are still not ready for testing. This includes Medicare, which reportedly won’t begin ICD-10 end-to-end testing pilots until the end of July. Regarding CMS, one provider said, “I don’t think CMS is ready, and they are cleverly disguising it by using providers as the reason for the delay.”

3. MGMA, AMA, and Physician Practices: The AMA is against moving to ICD-10 entirely. They estimate the cost of switching to ICD-10 will be between $225,000 and $8 million for physician practices and that it will force many practices out of business. The MGMA said that without CMS leading the testing, “there will be significant increases in cash flow disruptions to practices that will affect the ability to treat patients.”

4. Providers needing more testing, implementations, training or optimization: Several providers welcomed the extra time.

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ICD - 10 TIPS

ICD-10    TIPS

How to preserve cash flow after ICD-10 deadline

 

Many healthcare professionals are predicting financial hardships for medical practices once ICD-10 implementation starts.

No, this isn't about the American Medical Association (AMA). But there are fears that healthcare payers won't be prepared to process ICD-10 claims in a timely manner. Some experts advise healthcare providers to secure lines of credit or have enough cash reserves to keep the practice running for six months.

That's not feasible for many medical practices — especially after they pay to upgrade equipment and train staff. There are some things they can do to ease financial pressure after Oct. 1:

• Money spent on training and education is an investment in medical coding productivity and accuracy. That means more medical claims going out the door and fewer coming back because of coding errors.

• Clear out reimbursement backlogs now. That means extra money before you need it.

• Boost productivity now. This will make the medical practice finances healthier and provide some cushion when productivity drops after Oct. 1.

• Testing with healthcare payers will give providers an idea of how reimbursements will go. It's better to find out now if there is any shift in reimbursement policies.

• Measure denials, rejections and the time a claim takes to pay so you know if there is a problem after Oct. 1.

• Yes it is federal law that all HIPAA covered entities must use ICD-10 codes after Oct. 1. But what are you going to do if a healthcare payer asks for ICD-9 claims? Be ready to send ICD-9 claims just in case.

• Get friendly with someone at your major health plans. You want someone to take your calls when every medical practice, hospital and clearinghouse is asking for the status on overdue reimbursements.

This won't be easy. But you have time to get ready and prepare some sort of survival strategy.

 

 

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Where Should Doctors Be in the ICD-10 Conversion?

Where Should Doctors Be in the ICD-10 Conversion?

1. All doctors should know coding. Ultimately, we are the ones responsible for any billing or coding mistakes. We cannot pass the blame on someone else. The best way to protect ourselves from coding and billing mistakes is to be proficient in it. While many rely on others for this task, we still need basic knowledge and oversight of our billing practices, despite who is actually doing the coding.

2. Doctors should be learning ICD-10 coding. There are many seminars, webinars, on-line materials and many sources available to teach us. We need to start utilizing some of these references now. If we wait for the implementation to start, we will be learning in crunch time and this is the way mistakes seep in. Better learn from now when we have the leisure to make and learn from mistakes.

3. Doctors and practices should have already or currently be mapping their codes. What this means is that the most commonly used codes should be mapped out into their ICD-10 equivalents.  It will no longer be acceptable to just code for knee pain. Now, the code needs to show the cause and exact location. What could have been only coded with only one ICD-9 code in the past, now has many more detailed ICD-10 codes to choose from.

4. Some insurances are allowing codes to be submitted in the ICD-10 format from next month.  Make a trial run with one insurance at a time.  In this way, I will not have a major delay in reimbursements and I have time to work out any flaws in the implementation process. This also gives me a more ample way to become proficient in ICD-10 coding.

5. We need to ask for help. There are many people available to help. Many of our state and national medical societies have help available for us. We need to search out these resources and use them

The Senate approved a bill Monday evening that prevents steep cuts to Medicare physician payments from going into effect for one year and delays the conversion to ICD-10 diagnostic and procedure codes for at least one year. What next ?

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[Breaking] - ICD-10 Delayed

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Senate approved a bill Monday evening that prevents steep cuts to Medicare physician payments from going into effect for one year and delays the conversion to ICD-10 diagnostic and procedure codes for at least one year. What next ?

AccuChecker has the solution – Call Us 305-227-2383

Like US on Facebook:                         https://www.facebook.com/Accuchecker

Follow US on Twitter:                          https://twitter.com/HPPAccuchecker