Healthcare providers struggling to shift from ICD-9 to ICD-10 code sets by the government’s Oct. 1, 2013 deadline could find the path to conversion a little easier, according to executives at Ingenix and Health Language, Inc.
The two healthcare IT vendors on Wednesday unveiled the Ingenix Global Code Manager, a solution designed to translate between the 13,000-item ICD-9 code set and the expanded ICD-10 code set, which contains more than 68,000 codes. Overseen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems is designed to facilitate better analysis of disease patterns, severity and treatment outcomes; simplify claims submissions, processing and payments; and support healthcare quality improvement efforts.
“Ingenix and HLI are helping stakeholders across the healthcare system minimize the operational impact of transitioning to ICD-10,” said Tom Darr, chief medical officer of coding, reimbursement and payment integrity at Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Ingenix. “The Ingenix Global Code Manager will help our clients comply with the CMS rule while efficiently and accurately managing transactions with other stakeholders throughout the implementation period.”
Using HLI’s Language Engine translator, the Ingenix Global Code Manager will provide clinical coding interpretations to map ICD-9 diagnoses and procedure codes to their equivalents in the ICD-10 system while supporting the General Equivalence Mapping (GEM) standards set by CMS. Company officials say the solution will also lay the groundwork for future clinical and administrative projects, such as pay-for-performance and quality measurement initiatives, and support the Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine: Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT) standard.
Company officials say the Global Code Manager solution will not only help organizations whose departments have different timetables for ICD-10 conversion, but also those dealing with both code sets before and after the CMS deadline.
“Ingenix and HLI are providing healthcare organizations with the solution they need to move from planning their ICD-10 conversion to implementing the change,” said Marc Horowitz, senior vice president for Denver-based HLI.