With the transition to ICD-10, hospitals and private practices now using the new coding system must achieve compliance in order to continue the positive impact on their revenue cycle. Experienced and certified coders ensure that coding errors associated with ICD-10 implementation don’t affect timely reimbursements. The demand for well-trained coders has increased due to the need of providers to avoid inaccurate coding that disrupt their offices’ cash flow.
It was found in a recent ICD-10 project that the accuracy in ICD-10 coding varies depending on the procedure that is being coded. For instance, a C-section was coded accurately a majority of times in a sample of codes; however, in the same same sample “pain in limb” was coded accurately only 33% of the time due to lack of laterality and specificity.
Industry facts
A study performed by the Rand Corp. for the National Committee on Vital Health Statistics, estimates the conversion to ICD-10 will cost the healthcare industry between $475 million and $1.5 billion over ten years due to staff training, change in systems and loss of productivity.
As per a survey by Black Book, the number of hospitals and private practices outsourcing coding and clinical documentation services will continue to grow over the next year.
Clinical documentation (vital for accurate ICD-10 coding) is estimated to be outsourced by 71% of hospitals.
The number of hospitals outsourcing coding services will also increase from 19% to nearly 50% by the end of the year.
ICD-10 Errors that Coders Need to Avoid
Recently, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange released a report on its ICD-10 national pilot program. Various errors were found in the transition to the new code set. Approximately 63% ICD-10 codes were accurate whereas few errors were more prevalent than other codes.
Here are five common ICD-10 errors that hospital coders need to avoid.
• The number “0” is often confused with the uppercase letter “O”
• Number “1” is confused with the lowercase letter “I”
• Incomplete records or codes associated with wrong medical test case number
• Most hospital coders rely on coding software rather than code books
• Often specificity and laterality are left out of many codes
How can hospitals and private practices perform well under ICD-10?
Hospitals and private practices need to strengthen their organization and reap the benefits of ICD-10 by optimizing their revenue cycle. A streamlined revenue cycle will help them ensure better performance. Opportunities for improvement need to be identified in key indicators such as collection percentages, denial rates and days in AR.
Affinity Revenue Services is one of the leading local companies that offer various services, such as iClaim and EMRx, an integrated office management system and electronic health records to assist healthcare offices with the transition to ICD-10.
CodeRite eliminates errors.
It’s not always as simple as choosing the right codes for each patient encounter. More importantly, you need to use the best codes that can correctly balance revenue optimization with steadfast compliance.
Stop the guesswork, and start increasing your revenue with our CodeRite review service.
With CodeRite, a certified coding specialist will personally review each and every claim to make sure you’re getting the maximum reimbursement for every patient encounter.
Most coding reviews are returned within 24 hours and results are available in the real-time reporting system, or delivered securely into your current practice management system.
Our CodeRite service is seamless. Designed to fit your workflow. We provide personal attention that will fully optimize your reimbursement process.
For questions about CodeRite and other ICD-10 services offered by Affinity Revenue Services, call 855-592-9222 today!
Benefits of CodeRite
• Improve Reimbursement Rates up to 30%
• Stop Under Billing
• Improve Documentation
• Real-Time Reports
• Works Within Your Workflow
• Certified Coding Specialists
• 24 Hour Turnaround