It may be too early to start intensive ICD-10-CM training for your coding team, but now is a good time for your coders to at least become familiar with features of the new system.
The transition to ICD-10 is not in any way the kind of transition we made from ICD-8 to ICD-9, nor is it a simple matter of training coders and implementing a revised encoding system. This will probably be one of the biggest transitions hospitals and HIM directors and coders have seen in many years.
Medically unnecessary services and incorrectly coded items had the highest amounts of RAC overpayments collected in the demonstration project, according to CMS.
Most agree that the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will be a “game changer” in how physicians and their facilities will be reimbursed in the coming years.
For years the demand for coders has exceeded supply, and for many possible reasons. This may be because coders do not think that salaries are commensurate with the knowledge, expectations, and stress. And coders often move on to other positions and do not make a career of coding.
