How Can Practices Prepare for ICD-10?

If you are not already familiar with how the ICD-10 and 5010 HIPAA transaction standard changes will affect physician practices, you may want to read the overview below before beginning to plan how your practice will transition. This includes basic information on the scope and size of these changes and a brief comparison of ICD-10 to ICD-9 diagnosis codes and the guidelines for using them.

The time to start the transition to ICD-10 is now. While October 01, 2013 may seem like the distant future, many decisions your practice makes between now and then should take into account the upcoming coding changes. If you are planning to adopt an electronic health record, will it be ICD-10 ready? Will expenses related to the ICD-10 transition necessitate delay of other investments?

It is also a good idea for practices of all sizes to at least roughly outline a plan for changing all of the practice's coding resources and computer systems from ICD-9 to ICD-10. This includes including determining who will manage the project and making an inventory of where ICD-9 is used in the practice. It also includes determining how the change to ICD-10 will affect each user and related process, what expenses might be incurred, and what opportunities for economy and efficiency might be recognized in this process.