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ICD 10 never fails to hit the headlines. Whether it is dissent, appreciation or acceptance, the new coding set continues to be the most debated healthcare reform ever to hit the industry. It is too early to discuss the post-implementation effect of ICD-10. Some healthcare leaders feel that the ICD-10 transition has been easy but most healthcare providers have found the transition to be very stressful.

Most healthcare experts feel that it will take a few more weeks to understand ICD-10’s impact. Everybody has strong and often contradictory views on ICD-10. We’ve collated some of the most intriguing and quotable quotes uttered by healthcare professionals.

ICD 10 is crucial for patients

Know what Dr. Steven Kutalek says on ICD10 Transition

“Increasing the longevity of ICD and CRT-D devices is crucial for patients to avoid early replacement surgeries, which carry risks of complications and increase the cost of care”

Dr. Steven Kutalek, M.D., FACC, FHRS, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia

Follow Dr.Steven Kutalek, M.D., on Google+

Focus on what we do best

Know what Dr.Isias Irgua says on ICD10 Implementation

“The most important thing is for us to really focus on what we do best, without having to worry that there are going to be unresolved issues in the running of our practice. There is a lot going on behind the scenes when we take care of patients, be it issues in terms of the billing or in terms of dealing with insurance companies.”

Dr.Isias Irgua, surgeon, at Christina Care Health System

Follow Dr.Isias Irgua, M.D., on Google+

ICD-10 paves the path for extracting important patient information

Know what Dan Rode says on ICD10 Documentation

“Without ICD-10 data, there will be serious gaps in our ability to extract important patient health information that will give physicians and the healthcare industry measures for quality of care, provide important public health surveillance, support modern-day research, and move to a payment system based on quality and outcome.”

Dr.Dan Rode, VP at American Health Information Management Association

Follow Dan Rode, on LinkedIn

Population health is the buzzword

Know what Lisa Munn says on ICD10 Transition

“It should be noted coding is also a valuable tool for monitoring population health. The coding notes chronic diseases in an area, and outcomes associated with said diseases. The buzzword is population health.”

Lisa Munn, Senior Strategist Analyst for ICD-10 and Sam Grefath, Practice Manager, regulatory compliance practice of Cerner.

Follow Sam Grefath, on Twitter

Patients would be at the receiving end too

Know what Kevin Lenahan says on ICD10 Documentation

“Some patients will be affected, too. Those getting regular tests or infusions at outpatient centers will need to bring new orders bearing ICD-10 codes starting Oct”

Mr.Kevin Lenahan, CFO at Atlantic Health Systems

Know more about Kevin Lenahan here

Will give added precision

Know what Dr.William Rogers says on ICD-10 Implementation

“A clinician whose practice is filled with diabetic patients with multiple complications ought to get paid more for keeping them healthy than a clinician treating mostly cheerleaders, ICD-10 will give us the precision to do that.”

Dr.William Rogers, Director Physicians Regulatory Issues Team at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Follow Dr.William Rogers, on LinkedIn

Pristine documentation: the need of the hour!

Know what Dr.Sue Bowman says on ICD-10 Implementation

“Make sure the clinical documentation is a complete and accurate reflection of the patient’s clinical picture and that the codes are as specific as possible based on that documentation. There are some surveys that showed some [claim] denials, and some [providers] were having issues. I don’t think we can say nobody had any problems, that would be a stretch, but I think we can say the scale of them and the significance of the problems was much less than many people predicted,”

Dr.Sue Bowman, RHIA, FAHIMA, senior director, coding policy and compliance at the American Health Information Management Association

Know more about Dr.Sue Bowman here

In an interview with Sue Bowman, RHIA, FAHIMA, senior director, coding policy and compliance at the American Health Information Management Association by Chuck Buck, An Author of ICD-10 Monitor

Are you expecting claims rejection/denials data to change dramatically from the first eight months of results?

Bowman repliedWe do not expect dramatic changes in claims rejections/denial rates. Many payers and providers have been reporting pretty low rates all along. While there have been some increases in denials and rejections, these have been due to translation errors in payment policies, which are gradually getting corrected and will stop occurring.”

Remain true to the roots of medicine

Know what Dr.Betty B. Bibbins on ICD10 Transition

“A physician’s best approach to increasing their knowledge of clinical specificity principles of ICD-10 is simply to remain true to the roots of medicine, culminating in an assessment and plan of care arrived at through: (a) employment of experience, training and clinical judgment, (b) documentation of medical decision making and (c) communication of analytical/problem-solving skills. The best approach to becoming even more fluent and comfortable with the ICD-10 classification system is to focus on achieving effective documentation and communication of the clinical information, clinical facts and content – culminating in arrival of diagnoses with appropriate and accurate clinical specificity unique to the patient encounter”

Dr.Betty B. Bibbins, MD, BSN, CHC, CI-CDI, CP-EHR, CP-HIT, Founder and CEO, Executive Physician Educator, DocuComp® LLC

Follow Sam Grefath, on LinkedIn

An expensive headache

Know what Dr.Jennifer S. Kay on ICD10 Implementation

“It was an expensive headache. The coders were expensive, as was the time necessary to fix things coded incorrectly that were rejected in the claims process. Inpatient coding was done on scraps of paper”

Dr.Jennifer S. Kay., A family physician of Ridge Family Practice, in Iowa

Know more about Dr.Jennifer S. Kay Here

Carriers and private insurers still ill-prepared

Know what Dr.Rebecca Wartman on ICD 9-10 Transition

“The main issue appears to be Medicare carriers and private insurers not having all the ICD-10-CM codes properly programmed into their systems”

Dr.Rebecca Wartman, O.D., AOA Third Party Center Executive Committee member and AOA Coding Expert

Follow Dr.Rebecca Wartman, on LinkedIn

Only the cafeteria would be spared!

Know what Ed Hock on ICD10 Challenges

“This affects literally every single system in a hospital, except maybe the cafeteria”

Mr.Ed Hock, managing director of revenue cycle solutions for the Advisory Board Co., a consulting firm

Follow Mr.Ed Hock, on LinkedIn

We need software that allows easier transitions

Know what Dr.Jon Elion on ICD-10 Challenges

“The biggest problem in this debate isn’t whether healthcare should go to ICD-10 or ICD-11. The dilemma is that the healthcare community is not writing the coding systems and coding programs with the right mindset. The software that supports ICD-10, ICD-11 and every other medical classification of diseases and procedures in the future must be designed in a way that allows for easier transitions to the next classification.”

“There needs to be a realization to software vendors that there’s going to be ICD-12 and 13. We need to stop writing archaic software. We talk about these things: Is this ‘1 of 1’ or ‘1 of n’? Is this the one and only way we’re going to see things? Or is this the first instance of some type of general pattern? People have to stop writing software that is so locked into a given ICD code set.”

Dr.Jon Elion, MD, an associate professor of medicine at Brown University

Follow Dr.Jon Elion, on LinkedIn

Another Y2K?

Know what Dr.Robert Wergin on ICD-10 Implementation Challenges

“We’re hoping it will be like Y2K, when the switch to 2000 dates was expected to crash computers worldwide. Everybody will worry, and the claims will go through fine.”

Dr.Robert Wergin, President of the American Academy of Family Physicians

Follow Dr.Robert Wergin, on LinkedIn

Let EHRs do the heavy lifting

Know what Dr.Mark D. Kaufmann on ICD-10 Transition Challenges

“By far, the easiest way to deal with the transition is to have your EHR handle all of it. There are some EHR vendors that will do your ICD-10 coding for you, based on how you map out your visit on a digital diagram.”

Dr.Mark D. Kaufmann, associate clinical professor in the department of dermatology at New York’s Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Follow Dr.Mark D. Kaufmann, on LinkedIn

A diagnosis calculator can be of great help

Know what Dr.Singh on ICD-10 Implementation

“The calculator will take you through the process of choosing the right code, for an example, if you choose a diagnosis of diabetes; it will then give you the opportunity to choose options related to the severity of the disease and the reasons for diagnosis. Based on your responses, it will generate the correct code.”

Dr.Rishi Singh, ophthalmologist and Medical Director of Clinical Systems at Cleveland Clinic

Follow Dr.Rishi Singh, on LinkedIn

Right now the goal is to make the transition

Know what Clare Krusing on #ICD10 Implementation

“To what extent insurers will require doctors to use the most specific codes, or use them to adjust reimbursement rates, isn’t clear. In the first few months, the goal is simply to get the ICD-10 codes into the system and make sure providers are using them,”

Clare Krusing, a spokeswoman for the America’s Health Insurance Plans

Follow Clare Krusing, on LinkedIn

A Revenue Opportunity

Know what Ed Hock on #ICD10 Implementation

“Hospitals leave millions of dollars on the table today through incomplete documentation or coding errors. There’s a revenue opportunity in doing this right.”

Ed Hock, managing director of revenue cycle solutions for the Advisory Board Co., a consulting firm

Follow Mr.Ed Hock, on LinkedIn

No problems encountered by ICD-10 implementation

Know what Holly Louie on #ICD10 Implementation

“Thirty-eight billing companies responded to the survey, which revealed, among other findings, that three revenue cycle companies went out of business due to problems with implementing ICD-10. Additionally, it found that 22 companies reported that they experienced up to a 10 percent increase in denied claims when compared to pre-implementation figures. Eight companies reported no increase in denials. What’s more, 22 companies reported coding productivity is still up to 25 percent below levels recorded prior to ICD-10 implementation, while seven companies reported no decreased productivity. ”

Holly Louie, RN, CHBME, President of HBMA

Follow Holly Louie, on LinkedIn

Hospitals also fared well in the transition

Know what Holly Louie on #ICD10 Implementation

“When we went live with ICD-10 we saw a shift of coder productivity of about 30 percent the first couple of weeks. We have maintained at 10 percent or less loss in productivity since ICD-10 went live, so the productivity loss has been minimal,”

Chloe Phillips, MHA, RHIA, director of HIM and clinical revenue at Brookwood Baptist Health

Follow Chloe Phillips, on LinkedIn

Wait till Oct 15 

Know what Dr.William Rogers on #ICD10 Implementation

“Any problems that crop up will be far more evident on Oct. 15 than Oct. 1 because it takes that long to process claims”

Dr.William Rogers, Director Physicians Regulatory Issues Team at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Follow Dr.William Rogers, on LinkedIn

ICD-10 is a Definite Game Changer

Know what Erika Regulsky on #ICD10 Implementation

“Though ICD-10 demands more granularity it will definitely enable healthcare organizations to meet the current quality measurement programs as the data is more specific. At the end of the day, everything ties back to the quality of your documentation. Healthcare institutions must leverage on technology to make the transition easier. Using the right set of tools and resources will help to reduce coding denials”

Erika Regulsky, Senior Transitional Manager at PracticeBridge Inc

Follow Erika Regulsky, on LinkedIn

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References:

Published on 3 February 2015 at @CleClinicMD

Published on 28 May 2015 at @Cerner

Published on 28 September 2015 at @das4docs

Published on 4 October 2015 at @das4docs

Published on 7 March 2016 at @ICD10monitor

Published on 9 June 2016 at @MBIProbiller

Published on 15 – 22 June 2016 at @AHIMAResources

Published on 27 June 2016  at @ICD10monitor

Published on 14 September 2016 at @smaorg

Published on 22 September 2016 at @GlobeNewswire

Published on 26 September 2016 at @MedEconomics

 

Victoria
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