The Department of Health and Human Services have required Providers to transition to ICD 10 codes, which will be utilized for the purpose of medical diagnosis and inpatient procedures on all claims for services provided on or after October 1, 2013.
Healthcare organizations all across the United States, are scrambling to upgrade their enterprise systems and are spending millions of dollars to do so by moving billing data specs which is scheduled to begin on January 01, 2012. Currently software vendors are working closely with customers, payors and healthcare partners, to develop combined efforts in becoming totally functional and compliant with the new standards while others are scrambling to meet certification deadline for Meaningful Use. HIPAA 5010, ICD-10, EHR adoption, HIE and ACO formation, are in process right now. Are organizations ready for this transition, and if so are there enough resources to take it to the next level?
Though it has yet to be determined whether ICD 10 Conversion will be a benefit or setback to the industry, one may be able to gauge the implications simply by looking at the early EMR adopters of Stage 1. Simply put, for healthcare organizations who were timely in their response to EMR adoption, and experienced the pain early will most likely benefit as opposed to those who have not. It will allow the "early birds" the ability to prepare by streamlining complex workflows in the impacted areas, train and test in time to walk to the finish line. HIT and HIM professionals will most likely turn their focus on the start date scheduled for 2013 in efforts to improve data integrity and engage coding staff through documentation, training and education.
To ensure your organization is compliant with the requirements for the implementation of ICD 10 CM PCS, the American Health Informatics Association has prepared a checklist to assist with your transition. Please access this link below to view the checklist: www.ahima.org/downloads/pdfs/resources/checklist.pdf
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