October 1 is just around the corner. There is no other way to express it. Are you ready? Training to ensure you are ready for ICD-10 is the most critical factor in preparation. You should determine your staffโs training needs based on their individual roles within your organization. Staff members will require different and specific education based on their role in the ICD-10 coding process.
First and foremost, select an experienced training partner such as GeBBS!
- Identify which are your most frequently used ICD-9 codes. Make sure every person in your coding stream KNOWS the appropriate ICD-10 codes that correspond to your most used ICD-9 codes. This training will go a long way in helping you maintain your revenue cycle for your most used codes.
- Conduct a high-level review of your process with a gap assessment and analyses. A gap assessment will help you gain an understanding of where and how ICD-10 will impact your entire organization. The assessment should include your people and their expertise, your business processes, and your technology to determine the impact of ICD-10 enterprise-wide.
- Plan for additional expenditures in time and resources as you work to prepare for ICD-10.
- Enlist technology and an experienced outsourced partner to help with your transition.
- Donโt try to do everything on your own. Technology is available in the form of computer-assisted coding (CAC) tools. CAC is a proven technology that automatically derives and assigns ICD-10 medical codes from within your clinical documentation. Your organization can streamline your revenue cycle processes with CAC, while becoming increasingly more compliant with the requirements of payer and quality reporting. These technologies can work with your electronic health record and financial systems to produce extremely accurate coding. The benefits are many and you are going to need all the help you can get. These systems doesn’t have to replace your professional coders; they just aid them and ensure improved: accuracy, compliance, productivity and consistency.
- Enlist high quality outsourced coding and auditing support to help you get through the transition period and beyond. Highly-qualified outsourced coders, auditors, and HIM professionals can ensure you will have no disruption to your revenue cycle. These coders have undergone a stringent screening process to verify their skill level, education, experience, and level of professionalism. Most are certified RHIT, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPC or CPC-H.
- Test, Test, Test. Begin your ICD-10 readiness testing as soon as possible and continue your testing right up to October 1.