ICD-9 Coding Overview
ICD-9 stands for the International Classification of DiseasesNinth Revision, used to track how people died. Later on, ICD codes were used to track diseases and injuries to find patterns that might show an epidemic could be coming, as well as to track the general health of people. However, ICD-9 codes are not only used for this purpose lately, but for medical coding and billing in the U.S.
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has mandated replacement of the ICD-9-CM with ICD-10 codes, effective Oct. 1, 2014. ICD-10 which is expected to radically change the way coding is currently done and will require a significant effort to implement. The transition to ICD-10 is required for everyone covered by the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA). The change to ICD-10 does not affect CPT coding for outpatient procedures and physician services.
Differences between ICD-9 and ICD-10 Medical Billing and Coding Systems:
- ICD-10 has 141,000 codes—more than 8 times the 17,000 codes in ICD-9.
- ICD-9 is not very specific as they are numeric in nature and only have a V or E in front of the number while ICD-10 uses alphanumeric codes and uses alphabets to define the exact medical problem and is very specific.
- ICD-10 will enable practices to be more specific on claims forms in reporting the care provided to patients.
Advantages of ICD-10
- More detailed final health record is possible with ICD-10, which helps in detailed analysis and better decisions for treatment.
- Faster claims reimbursements as forms are accurately filled and quality control is ensured.
- ICD-10 allow for easy transfer or exchange of information at an international level as opposed to ICD-9.
- Monetary impact of ICD-10 on medical practitioners and their practice.
Healthcare facilities have to adapt to ICD-10 as the impact of government regulations and also to provide efficient healthcare services to patients.
DHCS ICD-10 EXPERTISE
Our ICD-10 services are designed to:
- Identify compliance risks
- Improve clinical documentation
- Increase the efficiency of coding
- Translate codes
- Map and convert your systems
- Train and test coders and clinical documentation improvement specialists
- Train and support physicians
In addition, we help improve your financial and quality performance through transition. We identify opportunities to improve your revenue cycle processes, quality reporting practices and case management.
DHCS services for ICD-10
ICD-10 Documentation Assessment Services
ICD-10 Assessment Services include an on-site record review, executive-level meeting, and summary report on data analysis to understand your challenges impacted by ICD-10 transition and to make effective decisions relating to process improvements.
ICD-10 Modeling and Code Translation Services
These services help you prepare for complex transition to ICD-10, train to make complex code translation decisions, model and configure embedded ICD-9 codes to support code translation, and help your IT team to transition ICD-10 codes to your health information systems. On-going ICD-10 Services are available to help your team with quick response as they continue to work through the challenges of preparing for ICD-10.
ICD-10 Financial Analysis
Millions of dollars are lost annually due to staffing shortages, coding backlogs, delays and inaccuracies. ICD-10 Financial Analysis reviews the expected financial impact of ICD-10 on organizations and prioritizes where the most beneficial improvements should be made and to help healthcare facilities maintain current CDI initiatives, coding workflow, reduce backlogs and keep your ICD-10 conversion on schedule.