Health Information Management

Survey the changing HIM landscape

HIM-HIPAA Insider, July 14, 2014

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Even the best prepared among us may not have been ready for the ICD-10 delay. By now, the reality of the ICD-10 delay has sunk in for everyone. It's a good time to pause, refocus, and survey the landscape.
 
How you survey landscape will vary depending on your environment, priorities, job responsibilities, constraints, and career level. However, you can use the extra time to your advantage.
 
Individuals with a status quo mentality keep chugging along. After all, the goal wasn't changed, there's just more time to do things properly. Despite all the publicity, HIM directors are breathing a sigh of relief, and a few were able to postpone retirement for another year. For those who think ICD-10 is still right around the corner, perhaps making your list and checking it twice is the right strategy. Add the following to your ICD-10 to-do list:
  • Contract with a trusted staffing or consulting partner to ensure available resource supplementation in your coding department when you need it.
  • Schedule a dual ICD-9 and ICD-10 documentation and coding audit to identify the gaps that still exist in your documentation that may affect compliance or reimbursement and overall integrity of your data.
  • If you haven’t planned or contracted for your coding and physician education sessions, select a vendor and program as soon as possible. Simultaneously develop your continuing education strategies.
  • If you haven’t budgeted for at least one staff member to become an AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer, do so now.
  • Set a date to begin testing and decide which systems, vendors, and payers you will test with to ensure all software changes are working properly.
  • Re-verify your database, software, reports, and interfaces inventory to ensure all systems are capable of accepting ICD-10 codes.
  • Plan ahead—take some time to educate yourself about worldwide ICD-11 initiatives. Are you aware that alpha testing has already been released?
Continue reading "Survey the changing HIM landscape" on the HCPro website. Darice M. Grzybowski, MA, RHIA, FAHIMA, AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer/ambassador, wrote this article. Grzybowski is president of HIMentors, LLC, in La Grange Park, Illinois. Subscribers to Medical Records Briefing have free access to this article in the July issue.



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