Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Medical Billing: Tell Me More About ICD-10

By Alan Greenbensons


Understanding ICD-10CM is a new concept for most billers. They are still trying to adjust to these changes because it is not an easy system to understand. Some of the new changes that have occurred are: the first 3 digits identify the category, the first digit is always alphabetic, you can use a combination of codes in order to diagnose more than one illness at a time, and you can use alpha coding (allows for consistency).

The reason why the healthcare system uses coding is to classify health problems and diseases. Without a system such as this, we wouldn't know what the ailment was. Insurance companies want to be informed about the patients overall health and if they are getting better overall. The deadline to switch over from ICD-9 to ICD-10 was October 1, 2015. This date marked a new territory for answers. Most people today ask themselves what this date actually signifies. Learning to code takes time and a whole lot of information. You should be familiar with some of the codes if you are already documenting illnesses such as: cancer, heart disease or HIV. There are many different codes that you can use.

In order to get on ball with your billing, it is necessary to tell people about it. It is important to let others know that ICD-10 is a complex system. A lot of doctors today are trying to understand how they can train their staff on how to use it. To put it simply, most doctors will not be able to understand ICD-10. I say this because it takes a trained expert that has gone through school and certification to understand this system completely.

You need to have a good EHR (electronic health record) during this entire process. It is necessary to make all of the pieces come together for the best of the organization that you are with. In order to make this all work, it is necessary put all of the pieces together. In this way, you can easily learn more about what everything entails. For the most part, you will be able to see for yourself what matters and doesn't matter. Life is more about learning and growing in this field more than anything else.

Remember that GEM's (General Equivalence Mappings) have been developed by CDC and CMS. These are coding resources to help you to understand ICD-10. Make sure to look at the ICD-10 books to find out which code is accurate. Your accuracy will help you to understand how to code correctly. Insurance companies will also look at you and see that you know what you are doing. In return, you should get faster turnaround times with payment. Preparing for 5010/ICD-10 transition takes time and patience. You will never completely understand this system if you don't keep up with it. Software is a big topic as well. Upgrading your software appropriately takes time and lots of effort as well.




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