MDNews - Central New York

SPECIAL FEATURE Decoding THE IMMINENT CHANGES IN MEDICAL CODING REQUIREMENTS CALL FOR STUDY AND PREPARATION, AND MEMBERS OF THE BILLING DESK STAFF AREN'T THE ONLY MEDICAL OFFICE EMPLOYEES FACING THE LEARNING CURVE. BRYANT & STRATTON COLLEGE OFFERS EXPERIENCED INSTRUCTORS AND A SOPHISTICATED CURRICULUM TO TRAIN HEALTH CARE WORKERS ON ICD-10 GUIDELINES. theICD-10 Enigma ICD-9 codes were based on surface-level knowledge in these areas, so some coders may find it difficult to transition." Medical Cryptography The ICD-10 transition involves more The Bryant & Stratton Syracuse North Campus is conveniently located at 8687 Carling Road off Route 31 in Liverpool, NY. A Beth Sassano, health care instructor at Bryant & Stratton, is also the COO of North Medical Cardiovascular Group. 10 | Central New York MD NEWS s MDNEWS.COM LTHOUGH MUCH OF the international commu- nity is familiar with the ICD-10 code set and has used it for years, fewer regulations in domestic health care legislation have allowed American health systems and physician practices to work with the out-of-date ICD-9 codes. As a result, medical reporting in the United States currently bases billing and interindustry communication on codes that are more than 30 years old, despite the fact that many of the services provided were developed more recently. "The ICD-10 code set lends more detail and specificity to medical service reporting, and it will increase the quality of patient care," says Phoebe Wilkie, CPC-I, CCS-P, direc- tor of the Professional Skills Center at Bryant & Stratton College in Albany. "The new code set will demand a strong knowledge of anatomy, terminology and physiology. The than linguistics; the new coding will bring a more comprehensive cryptographic change. Although physicians will have the option to continue using their current interoffice communication system, their documentation must include information required by the new codes. One example of how this will change revolves around the new code set's specificity: Whereas physicians currently need to document only "abrasion, arm," under ICD-10, the coder will have to document which arm. This means that the physician working the case would be required to document the additional information before passing the records off to a coder. Bryant & Stratton College teams with local health care systems and practice groups to prepare for the upcoming changes. Since ICD-10 involves each staff member who participates in docu- mentation, Bryant & Stratton's coding curriculum includes handouts and draft books, which students can use to introduce coworkers to the new code set. The Course to Certification Breaking the code set down organ sys- tem by organ system, the Bryant & Stratton coding course provides a comprehensive overview of ICD-10 in an economical 12

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