{"id":995,"date":"2011-11-27T10:21:53","date_gmt":"2011-11-27T15:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poweryourpractice.com\/?p=995"},"modified":"2011-11-27T10:21:53","modified_gmt":"2011-11-27T15:21:53","slug":"is-your-practice-prepared-for-the-icd-10-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/is-your-practice-prepared-for-the-icd-10-deadline\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Your Practice Prepared for the ICD-10 Deadline?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If your practice is not ready to make the switch to the ICD-10 coding system<\/a> on October 1, 2013, payments will stop for services provided after that date.<\/p>\n

Healthcare providers who are unprepared for the ICD-10 deadline<\/strong> will face cash-flow disruptions, billing backlogs, increased claim rejections and denials, as well as an expensive path to get back on track.<\/p>\n

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The comprehensive code transition will require extensive staff education<\/strong>, IT upgrades, and a reevaluation of clinical, financial and administrative workflows for practices of all sizes.<\/p>\n

110,000 Hours of ICD-10 Education<\/strong>
\nCarole McEwan, ICD-10 project manager at St. Louis-based healthcare system SSM Health Care, is in the midst of transitioning four locations and recommends that practices start as early as possible — if they haven\u2019t already.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe estimated that we\u2019ll need 110,000 hours of ICD-10 education,\u201d she predicts. \u201cIt takes time to start rolling out the effort. If you wait too long, the ramp up time will be extremely difficult. You need to get lots of people on the same page and that doesn\u2019t happen overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making the Switch<\/strong>
\nThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has several tools available for ICD-10 conversion<\/a> to help healthcare providers create a realistic plan for transitioning to the ICD-10 code set.<\/p>\n

Tools like the CMS\u2019 ICD-10 Compliance Timelines<\/a>\u00a0will help healthcare providers get prepared and avoid giving payers a reason not to pay them.<\/p>\n

\u201cICD-10 will affect coding for everyone<\/strong> covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), not just those who submit Medicare claims,\u201d according to the CMS\u2019 ICD-10 website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If your practice has not started the conversion to ICD-10<\/strong>, the CMS recommends you start immediately with these tasks:<\/p>\n