NorthBay Healthcare in Fairfield, Calif., has begun assessing its readiness for migration from the ICD-9 to the ICD-10 coding and billing system.
The two-hospital health system intends to develop compliance with all regulatory guidelines and timeframes related to the ICD-10 implementation and functionality.
Dallas-based vendor PHNS was awarded Phase 1 of the multi-phase assessment project for NorthBay. The company provides business process solutions, including admitting, health information management and revenue cycle services, for hospitals.
PHNS will review all of NorthBay's technology vendors, including the level of risk associated with each system or vendor, and perform a gap analysis describing tasks and dependencies to move NorthBay from the current ICD-9 state (and associated X12 4010 transaction sets) to ICD-10 (and its associated X12 5010 transaction sets).
"PHNS' expertise in ... medical coding and revenue cycle will be essential to help ensure that this major transition is completed on time and on budget," said Rose Kennedy, senior director of revenue cycle management at NorthBay Healthcare.
"ICD-10 is a massive undertaking on the scale of Y2K, and pre-planning now will help avoid a costly future crisis implementation," said Dan Allison, CEO of PHNS.
In a separate but related project, NorthBay is partnering with PHNS to provide an ARRA stimulus funds readiness assessment.
NorthBay Healthcare is a non-profit healthcare system serving Solano County, Calif. It operates two hospitals, NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield, Calif., and NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville, Calif., and owns a network of physician ambulatory care centers and a joint-venture ambulatory surgery center.