What is ICD-10?
International Classification of Disease tenth revision (ICD-10) is a system of coding created by the World Health Organization that notes various medical records including diseases, symptoms, abnormal findings and external causes of injury.
Next October 1, 2015, ICD-10 will finally rollout, which means the number of codes will increase to approximately 68,000 – almost five times as many codes there are in ICD-9. This increased number of codes allows for much greater specificity in the documentation of diagnoses, and it has many benefits, but that increase in the amount and the precision of codes will present a serious transition obstacle for healthcare providers.
Here are few tips to successfully manage the ICD-10 rollout.
- ICD-10 was delayed once before and it’s possible it could happen again. However, continue to stay on course regardless. No delay lasts forever!
- Keep communication lines open. Invite staff members to voice their concerns about how ICD-10 will affect their department and use the extra time to thoroughly address them.
- Improve clinical documentation integrity throughout the patient stay. Be the champion for clinical documentation improvement (CDI) and focus on getting the right information into the right medical record at the right time because this will have a positive impact on quality, reimbursement, and coding.
- Utilize technology to enhance your clinical documentation and coding workflow. Don’t rely on hand-written sticky notes!
Watch our Tips to Transition to ICD-10 video for additional information.
Leave a Reply