Guest Commentary: ICD-10 won't help on cost control | #ICD10 #ICDRemediator #ICD10Matters #HealthIT

Guest Commentary: ICD-10 won't help on cost control | Modern Healthcare

Guest Commentary: ICD-10 won't help on cost control

By David Johnson 

Posted: October 24, 2014 - 1:30 pm ET

Tags: Commentaries, Finance, Healthcare Economics, ICD-10, Opinion & Editorial

In a world where price matters, per-unit revenue must exceed per-unit costs for hospitals to be profitable.

That's easier said than done. Charge codes describing treatment mechanics have expanded and become more precise. The proliferation of revenue-cycle consultants speaks to the complexity of codifying treatment activity.

Implementing ICD-10 in 2015 will complicate the challenge. AthenaHealth estimates there will be up to 69,000 diagnostic codes.

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AMA really not softening it's approach to ICD-10 implementation | #ICD10 #ICDRemediator #ICD10Matters #HealthIT

AMA really not softening it's approach to ICD-10 implementation | ICD10 Watch



Commentary - There is no real reason for this, ICD-10 is a better way.

AMA really not softening it's approach to ICD-10 implementation

Posted on Sat, Oct 25, 2014 - 12:10 pm

It's not news that the American Medical Association (AMA) opposes ICD-10 implementation. But it's kind of fun when it grudgingly accepts it as a reality. For example, it will promote a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) National Provider Call on the ICD-10 transition with this caveat:

"The AMA continues to urge regulators to ease the physician burden of ICD-10 implementation, which has dramatically high implementation costs and is coupled with an already onerous regulatory environment."

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Updating queries to ensure ICD-10 documentation compliance #ICD10 #ICDRemediator #ICD10Matters #HealthIT

Updating queries to ensure ICD-10 documentation compliance | The Advisory Board Company

Updating queries to ensure ICD-10 documentation compliance

McLaren Northern Michigan | 204-bed hospital

Case Study|October 23, 2014

Impact Highlights $33,153

Documentation risk mitigated for specific diagnosis and procedure codes

In 2012, McLaren Northern Michigan, an acute care facility in Petoskey, Mich., had nearly 10,000 claims for thousands of diagnosis and procedure codes. Over 35% of the hospital’s principal diagnosis codes, 49% of secondary diagnosis codes, and 93% of major procedure codes were at risk for increased documentation concepts and changes in specificity in ICD-10.

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10% Remediator discount, code HALLOWEEN14, #ICD10 #ICDRemediator #ICD10Matters #HealthIT

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Get a special 10% discount on an annual purchase of ICD Remediator

Email sales at Sales@ICDRemediator.com with the subject-line HALLOWEEN14, include the number of seats required and you will receive 10% off your annualized purchase. 

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AMA Seeks Alignment of Meaningful Use, PQRS, VBM Objectives #ICD10 #ICDRemediator #ICD10Matters #HealthIT

AMA Seeks Alignment of Meaningful Use, PQRS, VBM Objectives | EHRintelligence.com

AMA Seeks Alignment of Meaningful Use, PQRS, VBM Objectives

Author Kyle Murphy, PhD | Date October 23, 2014

The AMA wants CMS to align requirements for meaningful use, PQRS, and the VBM so that providers can avoid penalties.

The American Medical Association (AMA) is calling on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to align the EHR Incentive Programs (i.e., meaningful use), Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), and the Value-Based Payment Modifier (VBM) in order that providers can avoid penalties.

“Physicians want to provide our patients with the best care possible, but today there are confusing, misaligned and burdensome regulatory programs that take away critical time physicians could be spending to provide high quality care for their patients,” AMA President Robert M. Wah said earlier this week.

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AMA's Steven Stack on ICD-10 #ICD10 #ICDRemediator #ICD10Matters #HealthIT

AMA's Steven Stack on ICD-10: The sky's not falling, but at times it feels like it - FierceHealthIT 



AMA's Steven Stack on ICD-10: The sky's not falling, but at times it feels like it

October 23, 2014 | By Katie Dvorak



For health IT, it is both the best of times and the worst of times, according to American Medical Association President-Elect Steven Stack.



While it is a great time to be a doctor and a patient because of the opportunities technology offers, the incredible morass of policies and regulations is interfering with what healthcare providers want to do, Stack said during the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange's annual fall conference in Reston, Virginia, on Wednesday







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Identify main differences between coding guidelines for ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM #ICD10 #ICDRemediator #ICD10Matters #HealthIT

Identify main differences between coding guidelines for ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM

October 21, 2014

A large part of ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM are very much alike, beyond the construction of the codes themselves going from a maximum of five numbers to a maximum of seven alphanumeric combinations. Let’s take a look at some of the significant changes between the two code sets and their official guidelines.By Shelley C. Safian, PhD, CCS-P, CPC-H, CPC-I, AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer

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Use ICD-10 to Bring Coding Back Into Focus - #ICD10 #ICDRemediator #ICD10Matters #HealthIT

Use ICD-10 to Bring Coding Back Into Focus - M*Modal 

As the ICD-10 deadline approaches, pressure is mounting to ensure that the right resources are focused on the right tasks at the right time.

Organizations should match their strategic needs, and performance/compliance requirements, to staffing resource capabilities and capacity. This involves considering direct and indirect dependencies on coding workflows, and determining the current and future demands of HIM and revenue cycle initiatives (i.e., CDI, ICD-10) and their ramifications on resource selection. Factors to take into account include: location (onsite/remote, domestic/global); response time (turnaround time demands, SLAs); scalability (process for addressing overflow and demand spikes); organizational expertise (hospital insights, physician connections); and clinical expertise (anatomy and pathology).

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ICD-10 and the Ebola Outbreak #ICD10 #ICDRemediator #ICD10Matters #HealthIT

ICD-10 and the Ebola Outbreak

ICD-10 AND THE EBOLA OUTBREAK

October 22, 2014 8:00 AM

The news has been filled with stories about the outbreak of Ebola infections in West Africa and the incidences of the disease that show how this illness has now made its way to the United States. Ebola is very contagious and often has a high (> 50%) mortality rate. As of Oct.14, 2014, 8,914 Ebola cases and 4,447 deaths had been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), which has designated the outbreak as an “international public health emergency.” 

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Mature CDI Program Helped Prepare Us Early for ICD-10 Switch #ICD10 #ICDRemediator #ICD10Matters #HealthIT

Mature CDI Program Helped Prepare Us Early for ICD-10 Switch | EHRintelligence.com

Mature CDI Program Helped Prepare Us Early for ICD-10 Switch

Author Jennifer Bresnick | Date October 23, 2014

Clinical documentation improvement (CDI) is the cornerstone of any successful ICD-10 transition program.  While the ICD-10 delay has given healthcare organizations an extra twelve months to get their providers on board with the increased requirements for detail and specificity, those organizations that have jumped the gun on CDI may be in an even better position for a smooth switch on October 1, 2015.

At the University of Washington Medical Center, Sally Beahan, RHIA, MHA, Director of Health Information Management, has been overseeing CDI and ICD-10 transition efforts for quite some time.  Implementing a comprehensive CDI program long before the imminence of ICD-10 has had wide-ranging effects on the health system’s quality improvement efforts while paving the way for earlier testing, dual coding, and educational activities related to the new codes.

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