Process revisions and implementations are not new to the US
medical claims processing industry. But, after the ICD-9 transition in 1970s, ICD-10 is the major change that the
medical billing and coding industry faces. We know that United States is not the first nation to implement ICD-10. Canada implemented ICD-10 in 2001, Germany in 2000, Australia in 1998, and the United kingdom in 1995 itself. As opposed to other nations that implemented ICD-10, the US has much enhanced ICD-10 coding setup due to the medical advancements that has happened during these years.
Lets see the key factors about ICD-10.
ICD-10 Coding structure:
ICD-10 has 3-7 digits when compared to ICD-9 that has 3-5 digits
In ICD-10, Digit 1 is a letter, 2 a number and others (3-7) are either letters or numbers.
Who should implement ICD-10?
All entities in the United States that currently uses ICD-9 version like hospitals, physicians offices,
medical billing companies, clearing houses etc.
How many ICD-10 Codes for 2013 implementation?
This cannot be answered accurately till the last coding update is published by CMS. The current version contains around 150,000 codes including CM & CPT codes.
What will ICD-10 change?
The ICD-10 coding system introduces thousand of diagnosis & procedure codes for better specificity. As far as CPT codes are concerned, changes are made only to the in-patient hospital procedures where as outpatient & office procedures are not affected by the ICD-10 coding system. ICD-10 will make changes to the
medical billing and coding operations.
A new dimension to medical billing and coding:
The use of ICD-9 codes was limited in terms of reporting & specificity. The ICD-10 coding system introduces a new dimension of specificity to medical coding by providing accurate codes for diagnosis and procedure.
Benefits of ICD-10 implementation:
ICD-10 implementation has multiple benefits.
Improved quality in clinical documentation
Improved quality in healthcare
Control over healthcare fraudulent activities
Great reporting features
Interoperability with other countries
Great accuracy with fewer codes
Implementation deadline:
ICD-10 has to be implemented across the United States on October 1, 2013
