CMS offers free ICD-10 teleconference on Sept. 13

The AAFP has information and resources for learning about and planning for transition to HIPAA 5010 electronic transaction standards and ICD-10 diagnosis codes, but we thought it might also be helpful to alert you to the free resources that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is providing. Among these resources are conference calls to provide basic information and answer questions you or your coding and billing staff may have.

CMS will soon host a national provider conference call on "ICD-10 Implementation in a 5010 Environment." Subject matter experts will review basic information on both ICD-10 and 5010 and explain how they are interrelated. A question and answer session will follow the presentations.

When: Monday, Sept. 13, 2010;
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET;
Target Audience: Medical coders, physician office staff, provider billing staff, health records staff, vendors, educators, system maintainers and all Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) providers.

The following topics will be discussed:

• ICD-10 implementation for services provided on and after Oct. 1, 2013;

• Differences between ICD-10 and ICD-9-CM codes;

• Tools for converting codes – General Equivalence Mappings (GEMs);

• Proposal to freeze ICD-9-CM and ICD-10 code updates except for new technologies and diseases;

• Compliance dates and timelines (no contingencies);

• 5010 before and after ICD-10 implementation;

• Readiness review for implementing HIPAA version 5010 and D.0;

• What you need to be doing to prepare;

• Medicare fee-for-service activities update.

For more information and to register for this informative session, please go to http://www.cms.gov/ICD10/02c_CMS_Sponsored_Calls.asp#TopOfPage on the CMS web site. Registration will close at 12:00 p.m. ET on Sept. 10, 2010, or when available space has been filled. No exceptions will be made. CMS asks that you please register early.

If your practice has not begun preparations for these big changes, this may be an invitation you don't want to miss.