As of now ICD-10 is scheduled to take effect on October 1, 2015. And yes, we’ve had a “go-live” date on more than one occasion over the past several years. Hard to say whether or not it will really happen this time. Some in the industry welcome it with open arms, some prefer it go away completely. Those I have spoken with who have studied it for some time assure me it’s a much easier system with more logical way of thinking than ICD-9, which sounds good to me. The biggest problem I see is that for many coders we have memorized the codes we use most often and coding work will be slowed down to a crawl. For our business we plan to bring in extra coders to help so that billing schedules can be kept. Will this be costly? Yes, but it’s just a part of doing business and keeping our clients satisfied.
Last year time and funds were spent training heavily for the transition. Once the delay was announced, I decided not to implement any more formal training until April 15th. I believe if it is going to be postponed again, it will be done by then. Last year a 1 one year delay was a last minute addition to the SGR patch legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in the spring of 2014.
Stay tuned for more information on ICD-10
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