If you're not in the medical field, ICD-10 doesn't mean much to you. However, it's impact on medical practices, hospitals, and medical coders is profound.
Presently your medical records are coded using ICD-9. Starting on Oct. 1, 2014 all medical coding was to be done using the new ICD-10, at the cost of billions of dollars in training and office updates.
Those codes are how doctors receive insurance payments, and God save their soul if someone screws up a code. It could amount to millions of dollars of fines.
As part of the "doc fix" bill signed yesterday, the implementation of ICD-10 has been delayed for a year.
I've done a bit of ICD-9 coding, which in no way renders me an expert.
Let's let a real expert, someone who has been down in the trenches with ICD-10, explain what this all means.
My friend McNorman, works exclusively with coding.
Prolonging The Agony Or Averting Disaster?
It sure isn’t ecstasy. Yesterday, March 31, 2014 our US Senate passed a bill to delay the ICD-10 implementation for another year. It was supposed to go into effect on October 1, 2014.
For most people, ICD-10 is an unfamiliar term, but for many of us in the medical field this is a dark cloud that has been looming over us for years. This is the new and improved coding system (60 thousand medical diagnosis codes so that WHO amongst others can have its stats on what’s happening).
I’ve been working on this for several months now, and it seems that many are seeing what is on the horizon. read the rest
More:
ICD-10 delay puts pressure on CMS for answers
Senate Passes 'Doc Fix' Bill With One-Year ICD-10 Deadline Delay
October surprise?
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