Many healthcare professionals are worried about the impending October deadline for ICD-10 implementation. However, some of these fears stem from myths about the new coding system, according to Government Health IT.
Here are five notes:
1. ICD-10 is not too complicated for medical professionals. The process can be made easier through sufficient ICD-10 training and strong clinical documentation programs.
2. Medical practices can also ease the transition by streamlining medical coding workflow through removing inefficiencies and adding automation.
3. The American Medical Association expects denial and rejection rates up to 20 percent. However, the AMA needs to track the following to determine actual denial statistics:
- Denial rates
- Amount of reimbursements denied
- Days in accounts receivable by healthcare payer
- If reimbursements match the contracted rates
- If tracking waits for Oct. 1, many practices will not know if the number reveals problems or typical business. Weekly tracking is pertinent in keeping small problems from becoming large ones at the duration the month.
4. If this process finds problems, a plan must be implemented to contact healthcare payers to determine the status of claims.
5. Medical professionals must ensure their documentation supports ICD-10 specificity. Therefore, their queries must be efficient and useful.
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