Becker's Hospital Review

39 Executive Briefing: ICD-10 Xtend Healthcare is the fastest growing revenue cycle solution company offering 100% onshore solutions. We offer cutting-edge technology, experienced staff, and 100% satisfaction. Revolutionize your revenue cycle, Extend your staff and assets, and Improve your bottom line. "When you look at our book of business, we have service lines that are going to do better in the new coding method and ones that are going to do worse," Ms. Campbell says. "Fortunately for us, they balance each other out." Even after conducting analytics, many consulting groups, as well as Ms. Campbell, urge providers to have enough cash on hand, at least three months' worth, to serve as a buffer for any hiccups. "This is a formidable task for many healthcare organizations," she says. 6. View payers as an essential partner. Major commercial pay- ers are in the same boat as hospitals: They have limited resourc- es, but they must be ready for ICD-10 this fall if they want their business to stay afloat. Hospitals and payers must act as partners on ICD-10, Ms. Camp- bell says. Routine testing of claims will give both groups the op- portunity to see how exactly claims will be adjudicated in the new system. 7. Recognize there will be resistance. Even if an ICD-10 stra- tegic plan goes seamlessly, some stakeholders may be leery and cold of such a large change to a process that has been the same for so long. "That's just simply change," Ms. Campbell says. "You can't forget no matter how prepared you are, there's going to be some change resistance." n 7 Common ICD-10 Errors for Hospital Coders By Bob Herman 74% of Physicians Have Not Started ICD-10 Prep, Survey Finds By Helen Gregg T he Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange released a report on its ICD- 10 national pilot program last fall, and the groups found many errors existed in the transition to the new coding system. Only 63 percent of ICD-10 codes were ac- curate, and some errors were more preva- lent than others. Here are seven common ICD-10 errors HIMSS and WEDI highlight- ed in their report. 1. Coders often confused the number "0" with the uppercase letter "O." 2. Coders often confused the number "1" with the lowercase letter "l." 3. Occasionally, coders coded the diagno- sis code but forgot the procedure code. 4. Most coder errors were due to incom- plete records or codes that were associ- ated with the wrong medical test case number. 5. Coders often did not specify the type of chest pain. 6. Laterality and specificity were often left out of many codes (e.g. "pain in limb"). 7. Coders often went on "autopilot," mean- ing they relied on coding software in- stead of their code books. HIMSS and WEDI said "this is a problem today that will not necessarily go away with ICD- 10." n N early two-thirds of physician practices have not begun preparing for the ICD-10 transition, though most are opti- mistic about their abilities to meet the Oct. 1, 2014 dead- line, according to a survey from Navicure. Among practices that have not yet started to prepare, 84 percent anticipate doing so by May. However, 27 percent reported uncer- tainty on how to begin preparing, and 22 percent said a lack of staff, time or resources have kept them from starting preparations. Despite these hurdles, a vast majority (87 percent) of those sur- veyed reported being confident they would be prepared for the change by Oct. 1. Additionally, while two-thirds anticipate some disruption to their cash flow during the transition, few anticipate a significant impact to staff productivity. The survey was conducted by Porter Research in the third quarter of 2013. Two-thirds of respondents were practice or billing manag- ers, and a majority (60 percent) of respondents were from prac- tices with 10 or fewer physicians. n

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