ICD-10 & Coding

The deadline for HIPAA 5010 - Jan. 1, 2012 - is approaching faster than many providers, payers and vendors would like. And, confusion abounds about what “readiness” means, says the Healthcare Billing & Management Association (HBMA).

Lynne Thomas Gordon, the new CEO of the American Health Information Management Association, spent her first days on the job at the organization's 83rd annual convention in Salt Lake City this week. She spoke with Healthcare IT News about her expectations and the challenges ahead for the 63,000 member organization.

With the ICD-10 transition deadline now just two years away, providers and payers have finally begun tackling the project in earnest, according to a new survey from the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), which shows 85 percent of organizations either planning for or implementing the new codes.

The Board of Directors of the American Health Information Management Association has appointed Lynne Thomas Gordon as its new CEO. She will assume the post on Sept. 29, days before the launch of the organization's annual conference, which begins Oct. 2 in Salt Lake City.

OptumInsight (formerly Ingenix) and Dallas-based RemitDATA have launched a service that offers physician practices intelligence about health plan claims processing trends, alongside coding and referential tools to increase productivity, reduce denials and prevent delays.

As the buzz at HIMSS this year indicated, ICD-10 is on the short list of things keeping hospital executives up at night. From 17,000 codes under ICD-9 to 155,000 under the new regulation, ICD-10 takes coding and reimbursement to a whole new level – and will exponentially impact the financial health of every hospital. Here is what every provider needs to know as they prepare for the transition:

If any era demanded healthcare IT consultants, it’s this one. There is a greater need for expertise in more areas today than at any time in the past.

Although the Oct.1, 2013, deadline for the migration to ICD-10 draws closer, even the skeptics are beginning to get on board with enterprise-wide preparations.

Meaningful use incentives, HIPAA and ICD-10 conversion are combining to create a high demand for healthcare IT professionals in the marketplace. Eric Marx, vice president of healthcare IT services for IT staffing and recruiting firm Modis, discusses what hospitals and other healthcare organizations are doing to find the right people for the right jobs.

Orlando Health among health systems digging into ICD-9 conversion