Health Information Management

Are your ICD-10 educational efforts under way?

HIM Connection, August 2, 2011

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When it comes to ICD-10 education, a day late may mean you're more than a few dollars short.

The time to begin is now—or yesterday, if you ask Stephanie A. Hays, RN, BS, CPHQ, and Kathy Hallock, RHIA, both of whom are coding quality consultants in the medical information services (i.e., HIM) department at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. They are situated in the coding and clinical documentation coordinators (CDC) work area to provide on­going education and serve as resources to other staff.
 
Although Vanderbilt's coders and CDCs have been holding weekly ICD-10 education meetings for several months now, Hallock, who is an AHIMA-certified ICD-10 trainer and the ICD-10 coordinator for the Tennessee HIM Association, doesn't believe they are ahead of the game—but nor are they behind the eight ball. According to the suggested timelines, she believes they're right where they ought to be.
 
"If you wait too long and you're not ready October 1, 2013, you could drastically increase your [discharge not final billed accounts]," Hallock says, pointing out that this change is bigger than Y2K for the healthcare industry. "It's a whole new ball game," she says.
 
Editor’s note: To read more, access this article in the August issue of Medical Records Briefing.



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