ICD-10 & Coding

While providers and physicians may be scrambling to get ready for ICD-10, workers' compensation practitioners are not required to switch to the new codes, according to the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange, an advisor to the Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the agency, 29,286 test claims were received and 25,646 test claims were accepted, marking an 87 percent acceptance rate.

William Rogers, MD, director of the Physicians Regulatory Issues Team at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will act as ICD-10 ombudsman to the federal agency, acting CMS administrator Andy Slavitt announced Thursday.

Those who were ready before last year's postponement are expecting it to through as planned - and hope there is no further delay.

A new checklist by the American Hospital Association is aimed at ensuring hospitals, and more urgently, physicians, are ready for a successful transition to ICD-10 on October 1.

Experts say problems seen in September in testing ICD-10 codes could turn into disasters when the new diagnostic code set goes live on October 1.

As part of CMS's ICD-10 transition outreach, the agency will appoint an ombudsman to help handle physician and provider issues as they arise.

The site, ICD10Central.com, features key performance indicators including days to final bill, days to payment, denial rate and reimbursement rate for RelayHealth customers throughout the country.

EveryICD10 has been sharing a new ICD-10 code and description on the social media platform by the minute since July 9, when it first tweeted, "E73.8 Other lactose intolerance #icd10."

Clinical documentation improvement at Henry Ford Health System includes nurses serving as translators between physicians and coders and analytic tools that have added 2 percent to revenue cycle bottom line.