Five
Facts about ICD-10
To help dispel
some of the myths surrounding ICD-10,
the lefts for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) recently talked with
providers to identify common misperceptions
about the transition to ICD-10. These
five facts address some of the common
questions and concerns CMS has heard
about ICD-10:
The ICD-10 transition
date is October 1, 2015.
The
government, payers, and large
providers alike have made a substantial
investment in ICD-10. This cost
will rise if the transition is
delayed, and further ICD-10 delays
will lead to an unnecessary rise
in health care costs. Get ready
now for ICD-10. You
don’t have to use 68,000 codes.
Your
practice does not use all 13,000
diagnosis codes available in ICD-9.
Nor will it be required to use
the 68,000 codes that ICD-10 offers.
As you do now, your practice will
use a very small subset of the
codes. You
will use a similar process to
look up ICD-10 codes that you
use with ICD-9.
Increasing
the number of diagnosis codes
does not necessarily make ICD-10
harder to use. As with ICD-9,
an alphabetic index and electronic
tools are available to help you
with code selection. Outpatient
and office procedure codes aren’t
changing.
The
transition to ICD-10 for diagnosis
coding and inpatient procedure
coding does not affect the use
of CPT for outpatient and office
coding. Your practice will continue
to use CPT. All
Medicare fee-for-service providers
have the opportunity to conduct
testing with CMS before the ICD-10
transition.
Your
practice or clearinghouse can
conduct acknowledgement testing
at any time with your Medicare
Administrative Contractor (MAC).
Testing will ensure you can submit
claims with ICD-10 codes. During
a special “acknowledgement testing”
week to be held in June 2015,
you will have access to real-time
help desk support. Contact your
MAC for details about testing
plans and opportunities.
Stay tuned for
five more facts about ICD-10: coming
to you soon in another CMS ICD-10
Email Update message.
Keep Up
to Date on ICD-10
Visit the CMS ICD-10
website
for the latest news and resources
to help you prepare. Sign up for CMS
ICD-10 Industry Email Updates and follow
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