President Barack Obama signed the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 into law April 1, which, in addition to shielding physicians from a 24-percent reimbursement cut under Medicare's sustainable growth formula and delaying the implementation of the two-midnight rule, also delayed the nation's switch to ICD-10 coding by at least a year.
While healthcare providers were glad when CMS set a new ICD-10 transition date of Oct. 1, 2015, ending confusion over the new timeline, many providers were still frustrated about the time and money spent to ensure readiness for the previous transition date of Oct. 1, 2014.
However, the American Health Information Management Association says they delay presents many opportunities for healthcare providers, and not just those that were unprepared for the transition.
In a recent article in AHIMA's Perspectives journal, the organization outlines 14 opportunities for providers resulting from the delay:
- Increase engagement with physicians and other affiliated stakeholders
- Evaluate and resolve any ICD-9 coding and documentation issues
- Improve ICD-10 educational plans
- Focus more intensively on coder education
- Reduce reliance on outsourced coding personnel by using the extra time to train internal staff
- Shorten the coding learning curve by encouraging already-trained coders to continue to practice ICD-10 coding
- Continually assess and improve coding accuracy and productivity
- Analyze data to identify and focus on high-risk areas
- Consider implementing computer-assisted coding technology
- Validate CAC outcomes
- Allow CAC technology to be fine tuned and mature
- Fine-tune CAC tools and embed the use of this technology in workflows
- Conduct more robust testing
- Demonstrate the value of ICD-10 by using ICD-10 data from dual coding for tactical and strategic initiatives
More Articles on ICD-10:
Shortage of Coders Presents Roadblock in ICD-10 Transition
CMS: Partial Freeze on ICD-9, 10 Updates Will Continue to Oct. 1, 2015
Impacts of the ICD-10 Delay