ICD-10 & Coding

Providers will now be held to using the correct degree of specificity in their coded claims to Medicare and Medicaid.

Don't worry, it looks like the ICD-10-CM code set is up to the task.

The new company will be able to offer health plans and providers a comprehensive suite of end-to-end financial and payment solutions and technologies, according to a McKesson statement.

Workforce management and staffing company AMN Healthcare has acquired Peak Health Solutions, a health information management services company that provides remote medical coding and consulting to hospitals and physician medical groups.

Florida Hospital has seen significant improvements in its case mix index, resulting in a $72.5 million increase in appropriate reimbursement since the implementation of a clinical documentation improvement program.

At least this far in, the fears of massive claims rejections, crashing cash flows and full-blown chaos were largely unfounded.

Of the 3,651 new codes, 97 percent will update the cardiovascular and lower joint body systems. There will also be new codes for a face transplant, hand transplant and donor organ perfusion, CMS said.

When looking back at the the biggest news in healthcare in 2015, an informal survey of Healthcare Finance readers found no other contender even came close to defeating ICD-10 for the reign of top issue of the year.

Two months after the implementation of ICD-10, revenue cycle experts say their world didn't collapse but not enough time has elapsed to declare the smooth rollout a victory.

While CMS said it was "pleased to report that claims are processing normally," it's worth keeping in mind that the government agency has taken several temporary steps to smooth the transition to ICD-10 which may be masking problems that could manifest themselves down the road.