ICD 10!!!

[RachelMBS]

I was wondering how other billing companies and doctors are preparing? What they know? To share some info with me. As a PT biller I am especially concerned with the secondary codes that need to be applied to the primary ones. Like how are we going to find them and make sure they are all right. I have attended Webinars by Availity and WebPT and a seminar next Wednesday, but I am still so confused!!! If anyone has good knowledge with the new ICD 10 PLEASE SHARE!!! Also, if you know how author are going to change please let me know. Thanks!!!

[PMRNC]

I'm probably one of lucky ones, as my clients are all prepared, did courses, I have ONE client that has a CPC on board who is fully ready. As a biller and the owner of a large network of billers we are working on courses SPECIFICALLY for billers. Almost all of the courses I've seen are geared towards the coder and are extremely RIDICULOUSLY priced. Billers need only get the same education they did (or should have gotten) in their original training to learn how to recognize and spot errors within ICD-10. WE DO NOT CODE. The coding education industry is flooded with companies taking advantage of billers by promoting courses that are way too extensive for what we need and way too expensive.  This should be NO more difficult than what we billers learned for ICD-9 and CPT training.

[shanbull]

Are you signed up to get education emails from private insurers? So far we are finding some promising free seminars offered through various private insurers in our state. We signed up for one through Medica (UnitedHealth subsidiary) today. We are still looking for one that is more PT-focused but for the basics I really doubt more than one seminar is needed. These seminars are clearly labeled as being for billers and billing departments rather than coders (they offer those too). Also we are not interested in paying for the information.

[PMRNC]

Also we are not interested in paying for the information.

I agree, that there are many great free resources to OVERVIEW you on ICD-10, however I'm also a firm believer in you get what you pay for.
I too was tired of seeing coding courses costing $500 or more.. and medical billers did NOT need that type of extensive training. However I've also sat in on many of a free webinar, training session, overview..etc etc etc and it's NOT enough even for the biller. That is why I went in search of training for our subscribers JUST for medical billers. No fluff, no BS.. but ENOUGH to give them what they needed. This is NO different than the type of training you or any other biller SHOULD have received on coding when they took their medical billing courses to begin with. This is just something new, an extended education, a continued industry educational standard. NO different from a doctor taking a new course to learn a new procedure. I've taken EVERY one of the free webinar's and seminars offered.. they are great, as an overview but they are NOT enough. And the courses offered to coders are too much and overly priced.   We will be brining billers a specialized and customized way of learning ICD-10 JUST for billers at a VERY reasonable cost.  In the future we will also be adding those ICD-10 training courses to specialty billing courses to even further diversify your training/education.

[RichardP]

Rachael - a number can never be descriptive.  Only words can be.  A number can never be a noun or pronoun or adjective or verb or adverb.  And you need all of those types of words, plus more, to accurately and sufficiently describe what is wrong with someone.  Only after you have first found the right words to use can you let a number be a symbol that stands for all of those words.

So - focus on the words that your clients use when they diagnose their patients, not the numbers.  After all - you are not really transitioning ICD-9 numbers into ICD-10 numbers.  You are actually transitioning ICD-9 words into ICD-10 words.  If you can really get ahold of that concept, it should help you immensely in the transition.  And it will point out a big pitfall in those instances where the provider has chosen incorrect words to attach to a particular code.

Type words into the search bar at the top of the ICD-9 link below.
Type the same words into the search bar at the top of the ICD-10 link below.

Look at the results.  ICD-9 will offer to translate to ICD-10;  ICD-10 offers to translate to ICD-9.  Play with it until you figure out the relationship between the two, and things will start to become more clear.

http://www.icd9data.com/2014/Volume1/default.htm
http://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes

Type an ICD-9 code from the above exercise into this link.  See if it shows you the same or similar results that you obtained in the above exercise.

http://www.icd10data.com/Convert

Note that many ICD-9 codes will translate directly to an ICD-10 code, using the link directly above.  Try this one 537.82 (direct).  Now try this one 782.0 (not direct).  With the second code, it is much more imortant to know what the doctor is actually trying to say with the 782.0 code.  If he has attached not-useful words to the ICD-9 code, no one will be able to accurately translate the ICD-9 code to the proper ICD-10.

That is why I say to focus on the words more than on the code.  The proper words will get you to the proper ICD-10 code.  If you have good words, but don't know the code, search on words in the search bar at the ICD-10 link (second link) I gave you above.  Now try one of your codes, and see if you recognize the results.

I agree that billers are not coders.  But I think billers will have a better handle on things after the transition if they play with the three links I've given above.

Caveat:  There may be some last-minute changes by CMS to the ICD-10 code wordings, but I don't expect major changes.  Even if there are, it is the relationships between words and codes that playing with these links will give you - regardless of what the end wording turns out to be.  If you know how to use these search tools, using both words and numbers, you can always find what you want even if they change the wording attached to the codes.

As an additional aid, note that the first link below is one level up from 782.0 in the ICD-10 Table.  The second link is two levels up.  Both links are included at the top of the page for whatever ICD-10 code you are looking at.  Find them, and learn how to use them.  They are good for a quick check to see if you are in the right place within the ICD-10 hierarchy.

http://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes/R00-R99/R20-R23/R20-
http://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes/R00-R99/R20-R23

Here is the page for the first one of the six choices that 782.0 translates to.  See the top of the page for the two links given directly above.

http://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes/R00-R99/R20-R23/R20-/R20.0

[Michele]

Even though ICD10 is not our responsibility as billers since it is coding, we still feel it is necessary to learn and educate our providers.  Our software update is a HUGE help in converting to ICD10.  Even if it is not our responsibility making sure our software is ready is our responsibility.  Check your software, many of them are working to make the transition easy.

[RichardP]

Our software update is a HUGE help in converting to ICD10.

Are you talking about Lytec?  If yes, have you transitioned to Lytec 2014?  And, are you using the Client Server version?

[Michele]

I am using the client server version.  We haven't updated yet but will be within then next two weeks.  I love the ICD10 section of the new version.