6 tips for getting ready for ICD-10

Barring Congressional interference (again), ICD-10 coding will become the norm on Oct. 1, which means health systems and physician practices need to get prepared or face the reimbursement losses that could follow. Bonnie Cassidy, senior director of health information management innovation for Nuance, has shared the following tips for getting prepared for the roll-out. Take a look and let us know if there are any that she left off.

Advance slide to start gallery.

You have an ICD-10 transition plan at hand; move forward with it. Update your ICD-10 project plans with dates and deliverables, built for an Oct. 1, 2015 compliance date.

About this gallery.

Don’t ever find yourself thinking ‘black and white.’ We must expect the unexpected. If the government changes the deadline again, you adjust and do a course correction, but you don’t stop and never blow up your plan.

About this gallery.

Focus on improving clinical documentation integrity throughout the patient stay. Be the champion for clinical documentation improvement (CDI) and focus on getting the right information into the right medical record at the right time because this will have a positive impact on quality, reimbursement, and coding regardless of shifting dates.

About this gallery.

Leverage technology to enhance your clinical documentation and coding workflow. Many providers use many manual processes, for instance,, Spreadsheets and sticky notes, for clarifications and queries in medical records and emails to physicians. Take this opportunity to assess your workflow and plan for technology-enabled solutions for assisting your medical staff and clinical documentation specialists with your CDI program and coding/compliance.

About this gallery.

Now you have 8 months to develop a customized dual coding program plan for your organization.

About this gallery.

Identify your high impact surgical procedures in various clinical specialties and train your coders the nuances of coding in ICD-10.

About this gallery.