ICD-10 & Coding

Revenue cycle firm RelayHealth said it has processed more than $25 billion in claims using ICD-10 codes, though it's still not known how that will translate when it comes to payment by the insurers.

While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a year's grace period this summer when it comes to claims coded with ICD-10, not all large commercial payers are following suit.

While the practice has been optional so far, in early 2017 providers must submit four of their inpatient quality reporting measures electronically, dubbed eCQM, or they will receive a 25 percent reduction in their Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services market basket update in 2018.

While certain technology jobs have gotten much of the glory this year - data analysts, security professionals and mobile application developers, to name a few - ICD-10 coders have also been in high demand and most have been scooped up.

Healthcare Finance spend the bulk of Thursday's rollout monitoring the buzz, speaking with experts and reporting on any issues that may have arrived, and while the true effects of the change will be felt in the coming weeks when claims are processed, bills delivered and accounts receivable wane, we have a few observations of the day that we'd like to share below.

On Thursday, providers dealt with system issues, which will be followed by productivity issues and then payment issues, according to healthcare insiders.

The American Medical Association was strangely quiet Thursday on the switch to ICD-10, but at least one physician was not, saying the new diagnostic coding system represents another administrative burden that is strangling independent doctor practices.

Some hospitals have established a command center for triage, a major consultancy is taking the "virtual command center" approach, and a cloud-based EHR vendor is deploying foot soldiers to practices in several states on both U.S. coasts.

Healthcare Finance and sister site Healthcare IT News will be reporting on the changeover throughout the day, using the live blog below to highlight the latest news, real-time reactions and frequent updates from our cadre of volunteer ICD-10 correspondents.

They may be in the Big Easy, where the good times roll, but the people in charge of managing health data at hospitals across the country are focused on the hard work of realizing the most benefit they can from ICD-10.