Are you ready for the ICD-9 to ICD-10 Conversion?
Posted by Mehul Shah on Tue, Jul 26, 2011 @ 07:14 PM
On January 16, 2009, the Department of Health and Human Services required that ICD-9 codes be replaced by ICD-10 codes by October 13, 2013. ICD-9 codes are used to report diagnoses and inpatient procedures and help classify patient sickness and death information.
This conversion has become a necessity because ICD-9 code sets have become outdated and maxed out, as they do not acknowledge the new advances in technology and knowledge, and the more complex body systems are running out of coding options. Furthermore, this code overload has resulted in new codes assigned to other body systems which have made the coding more complicated and disconnected to their classification type.
The new ICD-10 Clinical Modification codes offer 68,000 variations whereas the ICD-9 offered 14,000 variations. ICD-10 also expands the coding to identify the body system, root operation, body part, approach, and device used in a specific procedure. These precise codes should offer fewer rejected claims, improved quality and care management, better benchmarking data, as well as improved health reporting.
While this conversion will allow a more specific coding ability for physicians to diagnose their patients and help increase efficiency, the conversion will also require significant planning, training, system and software upgrades, as well as many other investments to ensure its success.
Originally, this conversion was supposed to take place on October 11, 2011, but the American Medical Association, along with a hundred physician state and specialty societies, expressed worry that it would not be feasible to complete a transition in such a short amount of time. Therefore, the new date of the ICD-10 conversion will be October 1, 2013.
Healthaxis, like all companies which provide comprehensive systems for claims benefits administration, is preparing for the upcoming implementations of the ICD-10 coding structure, as well as the new HIPAA 5010 standard. These will be challenging times, but the outcomes will ultimately be worth the effort. Healthaxis continues to be on the forefront of adapting to new technology and policies to help ensure that it is offering its customers the latest and most efficient ways of conducting business.