MDNews - Mid Hudson

icD-10: Brace for (coder Productivity) impact WHEN IT COMES TO TRANSITIONING FROM ICD-9 TO ICD-10 CODE SETS FOR MEDICAL DIAGNOSES AND INPATIENT PROCEDURES, ONE FACT IS CLEAR: ICD-10 WILL AFFECT CODER PRODUCTIVITY AT YOUR HOSPITAL OR PRACTICE. IT IS IMPORTANT TO BEGIN TAKING STEPS TO MITIGATE POTENTIAL LOSS OF CODER PRODUCTIVITY NOW TO SOFTEN ITS IMPACT ON YOUR BOTTOM LINE. T h e G o o D N e W S : The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) extended the deadline for ICD-10 compliance to October 1, 2014. The bad news: The clock is ticking. Chief among the medical community's concerns about ICD-10 — which include budgeting for the change, the readiness of vendors and payers, and securing adequate resources to prepare — is: Will medical coders be ready for the additional complexity of alphanumeric codes that are lengthier than the ICD-9 codes they're accustomed to using? Preparing for the Change "There is little doubt ICD-10 is going to affect coder productivity; the real question is: How are organizations going to handle the change?" says Deepak Sadagopan, General Manager of Clinical Solutions and Provider Segment at Edifecs, a Bellevue, Wash.-based healthcare software solutions company. "Several studies and analyses make clear that providers should prepare for an approximately 15–20 percent coder productivity impact. Providers can expect productivity to decrease or increase based on their case mix, process complexity and systems used to offset productivity impact. With the appropriate budgeting and 20 | Mid Hudson MD News ■ mDNeWS.Com training in place, providers and medical coders can minimize the productivity impact associated with the transition." Elaine Lips, RHIA, President and CEO of ELIPSe, Inc., a health information management and revenue cycle consultancy headquartered in Los Angeles, notes coders must be allowed adequate training and practice time to prepare for ICD-10. The American Health Information Management Association recommends inpatient coders receive about 50 hours of ICD-10 training, while the AAPC suggests 40–60 hours of ICD-10 training. In addition, the AAPC indicates physicians will require 16–20 hours, and medical staff six to 10 hours, of ICD-10 training. "Coders must be allowed to take instructional courses and then, of course, practice coding in ICD-10," says Lips. "Hospitals, in particular, will have to backfill significant amounts of training and practice time for coders. As for budgeting for the transition, healthcare organizations might wish to [plan] for: a drop in coder productivity lasting up to six months post-implementation; new net resources once productivity levels off; and, if they have their own billing systems, additional staff to deal with problems with claims." According to Sadagopan, other actions hospitals and providers can take to minimize ICD-10's impact on coder productivity include:

• Cover