Feb 24, 2012
The innovative thinkers and influential healthcare leaders
aren't relying on the decisions coming out of HHS to
determine their strategy. Despite the fact that many
healthcare organizations were on target to transition from
ICD-9 to ICD-10, Health and Human Services (HHS) announced
it would initiate a process to postpone the date by which
certain healthcare entities have to comply with
ICD-10. The details of the delay have not been
revealed, but industry experts are speculating that a
one-two year delay is in the works. With only 20
months remaining to the Oct. 1, 2013 deadline, this leaves
many organizations in limbo. Do they continue down
the path of ICD-10 adoption, revise plans based on
speculation about a new timeline or completely put the
initiative on hold?
The following areas of focus will improve quality of care, reporting and accuracy of reimbursement.
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Lead with purpose- understand the long-term impact of a
coding mandate and help providers understand the
alignment of greater specificity in coding with
quality reporting, improved clinical documentation and
clinical decision support.
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Take this time to improve clinical documentation-
develop processes and feedback to improve how physicians
and other providers document care. This effort will
reap financial benefits and directly impact quality of
care and reporting.
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Invest in educating coders- coders will benefit from
increased knowledge in anatomy and physiology under any
coding system. Introduce the changes in coding
structure that will come with ICD-10 and ICD-11.
- Appeal to the provider's intellect- roles and responsibilities continue to evolve in healthcare. Help the provider understand their rolein clinical documentation and responsibility for greater specificity in describing care.
Lead an effort focused on improved clinical documentation, not on coding. Healthcare leaders who develop a purpose greater than a mandate path will be the clear winners from a quality reporting and reimbursement perspective. Those who use the delay as another reason to "wait" put their organizations at financial risk and will lag behind the industry leaders with or without a delay.