There’s been some interesting ICD-10 news coming out lately. It make sense since we’re just over 2 months from the October 1st implementation date. I recently made the case that there will be no more ICD-10 implementation delay now that AMA and CMS have joined together. I think that’s the best assurance we can get that ICD-10 will go forward with no more delay. Although, I’m sure that many hospitals will still play Russian roulette and hope for another delay. I think that’s a dangerous strategy.
For those people that still think ICD-10 is a joke (and there are plenty of funny codes), Jennifer Della’Zanna did a good job looking at the “funny ICD-10 codes” and providing some perspective. My biggest takeaway from her analysis is that there have been funny ICD-9 codes and we didn’t make a big deal out of it. Why are we making a big deal out of the rarely used “funny” codes in ICD-10?
Leave it to Brad Justus to put the funny ICD-10 codes in perspective with a little humor:
Debate Over! #ICD10 #ICD10matters pic.twitter.com/GfcRzPS4Nm
— Brad Justus (@Brad_Justus) July 22, 2015
What are you doing to get prepared? Have you checked with your software vendors? Do you know that they’re really ready or just gotten lip service? Not all ICD-10 implementations are created equal. Will your payers be ready? Do you have an ICD-10 claim monitoring service so you can know which payers aren’t ready on go live date? How’s your ICD-10 training going for your doctors, billers, etc?
I believe that ICD-10 is on its way. Is your hospital ready? Sadly, I think many hospitals won’t wake up to ICD-10 until October 1st. It’s not going to be pretty at those organizations.
