The ICD-10 stands for international Classification of Diseases and other Related Health Problems, tenth revision. It is used to code diseases and signs, the related symptoms, all the abnormal findings and complaints, the social circumstances and the external causes of injury and diseases. The coding list is published and updated by World Health Organization (WHO) and is used in many other countries other than US. The ICD-10-PCS in particular means the International Classification of Disease 10 Procedure Coding System and consists of both numeric and alphabetical codes ranging from three to seven in total.
The first digit of this code is used to indicate the section of the medical practice. This can be surgery, administration, monitoring, measuring or many others. The second code is for body system, third for root operation, fourth for body part, the fifth for approach and sixth for the medical devices. The last digit is the qualifying code. Given the importance of the first three characters, they are stored in ICD manual for reference purpose.
The ICD-10 replaced the ICD-9 version and is set to take effect in October 1, 2014 bringing about drastic changes in the entire health sector in United States affecting all players from federal government, state governments, insurance firms, medical facilities to health professionals. The ICD-10 has two major components, the ICD-10-CM (CM being abbreviation for clinical modification) and ICD-10-PCS (PCS for Procedure Coding System).
While the ICD-10-PCS are used for in-patient procedures and studies, the same cannot be used when it comes to billing of the radiologist professional components. They are also not applicable for procedures and studies concerning out-patients. The implication is that this coding system describes the procedures that are performed on in-patients but the identical procedures performed on out-patients are still described by the original CPT codes.
The 10th Procedure Coding System is to be used for the in-patient services only. They will not be applicable when it comes to billing the radiologist components. The other significant area where they are not applicable is on the out-patient services. The implication is that a similar procedure performed on in-patient and out-patient is differently coded. For out-patients, CPT is used but ICD-10 is used for in-patients procedures.
As a healthcare provider in US, it is important to be fully compliant with the new coding system long before the October 1, 2014; the date of transition comes. This helps avoid the challenges associated with late attempts to comply such confusion and delays that are likely to be witnessed as there will be a rush from hospitals, surgery centers, clinics, CMS, insurance firms and State Medicaid and other players.
As a healthcare provider, there are no other viable options other than ensuring compliance long before the October I, 2014 date set for new system enrollment. The other options are to outsource the services or retire from the industry all together which does not seem reasonable.
There are several benefits that come with early compliance such as being able to avoid confusion and delays as all other players seek to comply at last minute. In fact, this is likely to cause system backlogs. The transition to the ICD-10-PCS may not be as smooth as expected especially if the rumors and concerns arising are not fully addressed. The major concern comes from rumors that unspecific codes will be eliminated making it impossible to make claims for the related complications.
The first digit of this code is used to indicate the section of the medical practice. This can be surgery, administration, monitoring, measuring or many others. The second code is for body system, third for root operation, fourth for body part, the fifth for approach and sixth for the medical devices. The last digit is the qualifying code. Given the importance of the first three characters, they are stored in ICD manual for reference purpose.
The ICD-10 replaced the ICD-9 version and is set to take effect in October 1, 2014 bringing about drastic changes in the entire health sector in United States affecting all players from federal government, state governments, insurance firms, medical facilities to health professionals. The ICD-10 has two major components, the ICD-10-CM (CM being abbreviation for clinical modification) and ICD-10-PCS (PCS for Procedure Coding System).
While the ICD-10-PCS are used for in-patient procedures and studies, the same cannot be used when it comes to billing of the radiologist professional components. They are also not applicable for procedures and studies concerning out-patients. The implication is that this coding system describes the procedures that are performed on in-patients but the identical procedures performed on out-patients are still described by the original CPT codes.
The 10th Procedure Coding System is to be used for the in-patient services only. They will not be applicable when it comes to billing the radiologist components. The other significant area where they are not applicable is on the out-patient services. The implication is that a similar procedure performed on in-patient and out-patient is differently coded. For out-patients, CPT is used but ICD-10 is used for in-patients procedures.
As a healthcare provider in US, it is important to be fully compliant with the new coding system long before the October 1, 2014; the date of transition comes. This helps avoid the challenges associated with late attempts to comply such confusion and delays that are likely to be witnessed as there will be a rush from hospitals, surgery centers, clinics, CMS, insurance firms and State Medicaid and other players.
As a healthcare provider, there are no other viable options other than ensuring compliance long before the October I, 2014 date set for new system enrollment. The other options are to outsource the services or retire from the industry all together which does not seem reasonable.
There are several benefits that come with early compliance such as being able to avoid confusion and delays as all other players seek to comply at last minute. In fact, this is likely to cause system backlogs. The transition to the ICD-10-PCS may not be as smooth as expected especially if the rumors and concerns arising are not fully addressed. The major concern comes from rumors that unspecific codes will be eliminated making it impossible to make claims for the related complications.
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