Are issues with ICD-10 coding ‘waiting to surface?'
There was a significant amount of coverage, discussion, and debate leading up to the recent conversion from ICD-9 codes to ICD-10, but it has been relatively calm in recent months. Does this mean the conversion has gone well?
Holly Louie, RN, CHBME, compliance officer for Practice Management Inc. in Boise, Idaho, has warned that there are “lurking problems just waiting to surface” in a new column.
“Problems are just starting to appear as payers add edits and issues with electronic health record (EHR) functionality become more and more evident as we try to help providers perform audits,” Louie wrote. “Even more issues jump out when an outside reviewer requests records. In addition, some codes that may appear to be correct to the provider ultimately are shown to be incorrect due to mapping errors in the products upon which they rely. In PCS, proving that the correct code was selected for certain procedures has turned out to be essentially impossible in some cases.”
Click below for the full text of Louie’s full column for the website ICD10monitor:
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.