A new article on the blog ICD-10 Watch looks at the risks associated with ICD-10 implementations, quoting ICD-10 expert Patricia Zenner. Here is an excerpt explaining four key risks:
1 Planning
In this phase, Zenner recommends that organizations identify goals, allocate resources to making necessary changes, chart a road map for how to achieve ICD-10 compliance and communicate with external partners.
2 Preparation
“Analyze and test the portion of codes not cleanly mapped in order to assess the potential reimbursement impact, modify standardized schemes, modify contracts to provide for the uncertainty that will accompany the transition ‘data fog,’” Zenner writes.
3 Implementation
What with the clock ticking, the implementation phase is the time to actually provide those allocated resources so your organization can achieve timely and accurate coding and reimbursement, Zenner adds. “Be over-prepared to address issues as they arise.”
4 Post-implementation
Once ICD-10 is implemented and compliance day, October 1, 2013 has come and gone, healthcare organizations will need to monitor KPIs (key performance indicators) for any potential issues, actively manage reimbursement, and continue to promote open communication, Zenner explains.
For more on ICD-10, see these other resources:
Electronic Health Records
ICD-10, Pat Zenner
When it comes to peering into the future, many in healthcare are now eyeing the 2014 date when the bulk of the healthcare reform provisions take effect—which means they are already looking beyond another important deadline. Change is in the air, and the October 1, 2013, deadline for implementing ICD-10 diagnostic codes is one of many system-changing evolutions that will take place in the coming years.
Where should healthcare organizations start? Pat Zenner offers perspective in a cover story published this month in “For the Record.” Here is an excerpt:
Simply performing an ICD-10 assessment is a huge task in itself. A thorough assessment is an exercise designed to help the healthcare organization build a strategy to achieve compliance that should involve identifying all organizational components that will be impacted by the conversion and then gauging the readiness to address transition for each component, says Patricia A. Zenner, RN, healthcare management consultant at Milliman, Inc, an actuarial firm that recently released a report measuring industry perceptions and readiness for ICD-10. The report details how organizations should currently be focused on synthesizing the output of the planning phase. “We recommend that organizations use a four-phase approach to ICD-10 implementation: planning, preparation, implementation, and postimplementation,” explains Zenner. “Upon completion of the planning phase, organizations should have a strategic approach document that brings together all pieces of the assessment and integrates them into an outline of what is impacted, preferred approaches through transition, contract and vendor strategies/changes, the resources needed, recommendations on how communication of the organization’s approach should be relayed internally and externally, and how education should be rolled out through implementation.”
According to Zenner, organizations that are on track with the report’s recommended timeline should already be well into that planning phase, targeting completion in the first quarter of this year. That includes completing an assessment examining all facets of the organization. “Since ICD-10 has the potential to affect nearly every aspect of the organization, the assessment should cover every aspect as well,” Zenner says. “It’s better to err on the side of covering too much rather than risk omitting something important. Once all of the components have been identified, then the organization can develop detailed strategies and tactics for achieving compliance. Those strategies and tactics feed into the detailed implementation plan that must ultimately be developed and used.”
Electronic Health Records
ICD-10, Pat Zenner
Even with the direction of reform now in question, change continues throughout healthcare. One evolution that should be well underway is the mandated, industry-wide conversion to ICD-10. Here is a summary from GovTech:
They say it’s a bigger deal than the Y2K bug.
Not so much in terms of mass hysteria, but in scope: In 2013, the U.S. will upgrade to the latest version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) system — the standard diagnostic taxonomy by the World Health Organization — a move which represents “the largest health-care systems modernization effort in history,” said Bartlett Cleland, senior director of policy at TechAmerica, a technology industry association.
As hospitals switch to the latest disease diagnosis and procedure codes, industry observers say, the technical and economic impact to the U.S. government and health-care community could eclipse the much-hyped system upgrades at the turn of the century.
“It’s going to affect anybody who touches the health-care system,” Cleland said. “If not done correctly, this change has the potential to be even more painful than anything in the health-care debate that’s going on.”
ICD-10 is starting to get more press and attract a greater sense of urgency. This blog article has appeared several places. Why the increased attention? First, because 2013 no longer seems so far away; and second, because many in healthcare are not yet prepared for the conversion. The industry’s preparation was recently highlighted in this survey.
Read more…
Electronic Health Records
Andrew Naugle, ICD-10, Pat Zenner
A new study looks at how health organizations are responding to the ICD-10 deadline of Oct. 1, 2013. In many cases, they don’t seem to be responding at all—70% indicated their organization has done “little or nothing” to implement the new standard.
You can read the study here.
Electronic Health Records, Quality of Care
Andrew Naugle, ICD-10, John Kasey, Patricia Zenner
October 1, 2013, sounds like a long way off—unless you are in health IT.
That’s the day that the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) has set as the deadline for conversion to ICD-10 clinical codes.
Two new Milliman white papers help clarify the issue by looking at critical factors for conversion and by isolating the characteristics that will separate the winners from the losers as the American healthcare system makes this switch.
Anyone looking for even more depth can check back with us for future publications, or join our series of Webinars, which begin tomorrow.
Electronic Health Records
ICD-10, Kathy Zaharias, Lisa Mattie, Patricia Zenner
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