Advocacy & Practice Updates — Advocacy & Practice

Retina Specialists Preparing for Transition to ICD-10

Additional reading

 
Study Finds ICD-10 Implementation Costs 'Much More Disruptive'

Register for ICD-10 Testing Week: March 3-7

February 27, 2014    --    Back to Retina Practice News

Based on members’ responses to the ASRS 2014 Practice Management e-Survey, “Preparation for CMS Mandates and Interest in ASRS Guidance & Resources,” in the field from February 13 to 21, nearly 75 % of retina specialists are preparing for ICD-10 transition, with 55 % saying they were “very likely” to be ready to submit ICD-10 transactions by October 1.  Nearly 35 % have already started training staff while nearly half of respondents plan to begin training in the second and third quarters of 2014 for the October 1 deadline. We anticipate that despite preparations, some practices will have significant delays in payments due to problems with CMS receiving correctly formatted claims.
 

Tips for ICD-10 preparation

Organize the implementation effort

  • Appoint a project manager who is familiar with or will become familiar with the ICD-10 requirements.
  • Establish an implementation schedule.
  • Set a budget for the work.

Identify necessary system changes

  • List all work processes and electronic systems such as EMR, billing and reporting components, that use ICD-9 and will need to be updated to  accommodate ICD-10 changes.
  • Document any potential workflow changes.

Communicate with your payers, clearinghouses and vendors to determine their system readiness and ask what they’re doing to prepare for the transition.

  • Ask your payers if there are any contractual changes regarding coding specificity that could affect how you process claims.
  • Check with your IT vendor to determine if there will be hardware upgrade costs.
  • Participate in vendors’ webinars and training sessions to understand the impact of ICD-10 on the existing system.

Implement system and/or software upgrades.

  • Schedule upgrades
  • Establish a master calendar for when each vendor will update your system.
  • Test the use of ICD-10 codes within your systems and correct any identified issues.

Update internal processes.

Determine the training needs of your staff and conduct staff training.

Test, Test, Test - Before the October 1, 2014 deadline, make sure to test your transaction submissions with your vendors, payers, and clearinghouses to make sure everything is going smoothly.