Today Begins the Medical Profession's Month of "Heck"

[slamjet]

ICD-10, yes, I am the resident expert for our firm, and every other office we know who didn't prepare themselves.  The calls and emails are already rolling in, the charge tags are starting to pile up.  I get to review all our client's Dx's to make sure it's it all works.  The one saving grace is that I held a couple of training seminars so most all our clients have a clue.

 

October is going to be painful. 

 

I can't imagine what it must be to work for a large clinic or hospital.  So please be patient with your doctors offices, they have a huge coding change to deal with and may not be in a good mood.

[Guest]

How long has it been since they updated the codes? I was using ICD-9 when I was billing 15+ years ago. 

[slamjet]

ICD-9 was implemented in 1979.  This is more than a code update, it's a total code change.  We're going from 14K-ish to over 64K-ish.

Edited September 30, 2015 by slamjet

[Guest]

Holy smokes. That will be especially fun with Medicare billing.

[slamjet]

Yea, I found one ICD-9 code that was replaced with 31 ICD-10 codes.  It's all about specificity.  BTW, yes, there's a code for getting hurt in a spacecraft.

[Palerider]

The ever changing Medical world. My wife is employed through our local hospital and its part of a large Medical group. She is a Supervisor over all the Lab Assisstants .... Always going to meetings and training classes in St Louis ....I know of changes on the side of the Lab.

[Guest]

This is a good thing.  It paves the way for Healthcare Informatics.