ICD-10 Watch

Questions to ask your IT team

Doreen V. Bentley — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:33:44 +0000

During a November 17 virtual meeting hosted by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), co-presenter Laurine Johnson, MS, RHIA, CPC-H, director of HIM services at Ingenix, gave the following list of questions you should ask your information technology (IT) team to prepare for ICD-10 implementation: How does 5010 impact my ICD-10 implementation? Which databases contain ICD-9-CM [...]

Find answers to your ICD-10 questions

Doreen V. Bentley — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:26:31 +0000

Over the last six months, I have noticed that the FAQ sections for different associations and organizations have increased in size and detail. Are you interested in learning the answers to the following questions: How soon after a code has been added or deleted will the General Equivalence Mappings (GEM) be updated to reflect these changes? Will [...]

Check out the latest ICD-10 resources

Doreen V. Bentley — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:04:51 +0000

On November 12, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is hosting a virtual meeting titled, “ICD-10 Implementation for Hospitals.” According to AHIMA Web site, the program will help attendees: Discover how 5010 affects ICD-10-CM/PCS implementation Understand General Equivalency Mappings (GEMs) and mapping at an organizational level Determine how this implementation affects the HIM and coding professional Identify an [...]

My experience at an AHIMA trainer session Part 3

Shannon McCall — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:06:47 +0000

During this three-day training, we learned as much as possible about this new classification system. I received a letter in the mail right before leaving for the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Academy for ICD-10 trainer session in Grapevine, TX, only to find out that the learning doesn’t end after the three days! I [...]

My experience at an AHIMA trainer session Part 2

Shannon McCall — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:46:54 +0000

In a recent post, I talked about my experience attending an American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Academy for ICD-10 trainer session. While I am excited about certain aspects of ICD-10-CM, I’m not as quick to warm up to ICD-10-PCS, which is very different from what we currently use in ICD-9-CM Volume 3. The use of [...]

My experience at an AHIMA trainer session

Shannon McCall — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:31:39 +0000

I recently completed the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Academy for ICD-10 trainer session in Grapevine, TX. It was a whirlwind experience. The days were long, but it was fun to learn something new. I am convinced now more than ever that ICD-10-CM is very much like ICD-9-CM. But ICD-10-PCS will take some getting used [...]

AAPC releases code translator tool

Doreen V. Bentley — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:37:08 +0000

You’ll be happy to add this code translator to your collection of ICD-10 tools. The American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) released on October 20 a free ICD-10-CM online code conversion tool, which you can use to map ICD-9-CM codes to ICD-10-CM codes. The tool is based on the General Equivalency Mapping files CMS has posted [...]

AHIMA posts ICD-10 practice briefs

Doreen V. Bentley — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:57:37 +0000

On October 2, the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) posted three new practice briefs related to ICD-10 on its Web site. Click on “All current practice briefs in chronological order by publication date, and then access the three briefs: ICD-10-CM/PCS Project Management Resources Transitioning ICD-10-CM/PCS Data Management Processes Planning Organizational Transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS It can be a challenge [...]

A coding tip that will make your ears perk up

Joe Rivet — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:32:48 +0000

This is just one of hundreds examples of changes coming with ICD-10. Every family practice regardless of size should identify a person(s) to be the designated ICD-10 expert. To develop appropriate education, every practice should take the time to recognize areas upon which ICD-10 will have a significant impact. As we get closer [...]

Check out AHIMA’s implementation preparation checklist

Doreen V. Bentley — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:00:29 +0000

There are a number of ICD-10 checklists floating around out there in cyberspace, but this one created by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and included in a recent CMS presentation is one of the best ones I’ve seen. The AHIMA suggests the following checklist when performing an ICD-10 impact assessment: Establish interdisciplinary steering committee [...]