Less than 30 days until ICD-10 – Last minute checklist

Many years and several extensions later, the ICD-10 coding transition is imminent. Is your practice ready? Many member doctors have already taken advantage of the resources to prepare themselves, their staff and their practice. It’s not too late to get ready. In fact, even if you feel fully prepared for the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10, there are some items you can check and double-check during the countdown to October 1 that will ensure you’re ready to go.

Get ready with these resources

First, COA has released two detailed fact sheets for members.

• “Making the Transition: ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Codes”: Provides characteristics of ICD-10 codes, along with tips for implementing the codes and a detailed task list to chart and track your progress.
• “ICD-10 Resource Guide”: An extensive list of online resources available from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, AOA, COA, Noridian Healthcare Solutions and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to aid the practice in converting to ICD-10 codes.

Familiarize yourself with the codes

This is one that you and your staff can do before and after the deadline. A new system is like speaking a new language; the more time you spend practicing that language and using it, the more proficient you’ll become. You can do that by:

• Remember that right or left matters – The logic behind the codes is the same for a good portion of ICD-10. The only real difference is documenting which eye is affected and then translating it into ICD-10.
• Get used to thorough charting – ICD-10 requires more chart notations than ICD-9. This means it’s important to get used to writing everything down as you go.
• Learn new codes – There are some codes that are completely different that you and your staff will need to learn to streamline your coding process. Those include codes having to do with glaucoma, diabetes and ocular injury.

Familiarize yourself with coding characteristics

If you are thorough about learning the characteristics of an ICD-10 code, then you and your staff will feel more comfortable when the transition happens. Here are some quick items to memorize:

• Codes will be three to seven alpha-numeric digits – The first three characters represent a disease category or health condition. Following that is a decimal point and then additional characters. The following characters represent the severity, etiology and anatomical location (right eye or left eye).
• Identify your most used codes – These are the codes that you and your staff should know by heart.
• Use GEMs (Crosswalks) – These will translate your ICD-9 codes to ICD-10.

You should also double-check with your vendors and health plans that everything is ready on their end. For more detailed information about the transition to ICD-10 and steps you can take to get prepared, click on the links to the fact sheets above, and be sure to check out our California Optometry e-Magazine to see what ICD-10 expert Dr. William Rogoway has to say. (For more ICD-10 transition tips, see “COA aids for transition to ICD-10” and “ICD-10 updates: protect your practice from hackers” in this issue.)