ICD-10: Concerns & Preparations

ICD-10—Potpourri:
General State of Readiness- How you can & should be Preparing for the Inevitable, Part 3 of 4

“When healthcare transitioned to ICD-9 on Oct. 1, 1984, there was still great confusion 18 months later on how to submit the codes. There was great deal of frustration both on the provider side as well as the health plan side. There was also a huge lack of training to prepare the doctors for the transition to ICD-9. As a result, for almost a year, there were large drops in revenue.

I am seeing things now, for ICD-10, that I witnessed back then for ICD-9. A great deal of people have not even started their processes.” Ben Michelson, of Hayes Management Consulting ...(1.)

Why ICD-10?

ICD-10—Potpourri:
General State of Readiness- How you can & should be Preparing for the Inevitable, Part 2 of 4

This article “ICD-10 Implementation: Top concerns for healthcare providers” quotes Jim Jacobs, senior vice president and product management and health information management for QuadraMed. "If you want to understand outcomes and understand the protocols that are working, the protocols that have measured benefits, then you need quite a bit of specificity."

What is ICD-10?

ICD-10—Potpourri:
General State of Readiness- How you can & should be Preparing for the Inevitable, Part 1 of 4

The message is, as always, begin to prepare now and begin making the changes to how you document now, so that you are better prepared as a provider for ICD-10 and so your coders and billers will have the information they need to take care of you and the patients properly.

The International Classification of Diseases system will be updated from the ICD-9 to the ICD-10 standard on October 1, 2013.  These are the codes that are used in healthcare as a common language to describe the diagnosis, condition, or other reasons for a patient visit to the doctor or healthcare facility.  Now around the world ICD-10 has been used for years, the United States is one of the last places to implement this coding.

Live WritePad Training With Dr. Arkfeld Review & Added Date: Sept 29

We had a WritePad training with Dr. Ted Arkfeld, DC, MS, CPC. Thursday, Sept 8th.  It went very well with great tips, good comments, and a general sense of "yes, I can do this".  Being the lucky duck who gets to sit in on the classes I also live tweeted throughout the day.  I have collected those tweets for you here.  For some they might be reminders they forgot to note, for others I'm hoping you'll see a couple of things that might help your office or inspire you to learn more. (Penny)

Here are the notes:

Dr. Arkfeld’s WritePad Training Seminar #2

Be up and running now - Again!

Please Mark Your Calendar for September 29th and Register now.

Our Sept 8th WritePad class filled up so fast that Dr. Arkfeld is offering an additional date on Sept 29, to accommodate any additional Write Pad Users.  It is still free for those that have purchased his training and who are just starting or have not yet completed their WritePad training.  For anyone who would like to attend, but had not previously purchased Dr. Arkfeld's training, you may also attend for the modest training price of $399 per person.

BCBS MI Disaffiliation Solution!

ATTENTION GENIUS SOLUTIONS CLIENTS

Over the past three weeks Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has been sending disaffiliation letters to doctors of chiropractic throughout the state. 

Thanks to Dr. Arkfeld’s efforts on your behalf, we are pleased to announce that those doctors who have become compliance clients and purchased eTHOMAS-WritePad have been given a six-month extension on their disaffiliation.  This will allow our WritePad users who are compliance clients to make and show the necessary changes in their profile in a clearly documented and evidenced way. 

If you have received a disaffiliation letter from Blue Cross Blue Shield, or any letter regarding your profile, please call Dr. Ted A. Arkfeld of Advanced Compliance Technologies immediately at 989-448-8065 or visit http://www.arkfeldcompliance.com.  Even if you are not currently a compliance client of Dr. Arkfeld’s, or do not currently have or use WritePad and have received a disaffiliation letter not all is lost, please call Dr. Arkfeld today.

Do you have an Off-Site Back-Up and is it Current?

Hello east-coast!  We know you’ve been getting constant reminders about the hurricane all week.  Heck, I’ve received no less than 10 bulletins in the last two days from the CDC, FEMA, National Weather Service, and many others- And I’m in the MID-WEST!

Anyway- we just wanted to remind you (while you were packing to run away or boarding in to hunker down) to back up your data.  BUT, we don’t just want you to back it up- we also want to make sure that you have at least one off site copy as well.

The CDC is right:  have a plan, be prepared, and by golly make sure you have an extra off-site back up too. 

Oh, yeah- and stay dry!

Webinars for WritePad Users

Upcoming WritePad Webinars

New Changes to RAC Program

Per an article by Sheri Porter on the AAFP website, Medicare is making a change to the RAC programs that might help out family physicians and their offices, beginning January 3, 2012.

The Google Health Experiment is Shutting Down

For the last four years or so I’ve been watching in the background as Google Health came out, followed shortly thereafter by Microsoft’s Healtvault and others.  PHR (personal health records) – take e-healthcare to the individual patient.  This was before the ARRA and the new EHR and meaningful use initiatives, before many people even knew what an EHR was, let alone a PHR.  Like many things Google had found a niche and was grabbing it by the horns to make it play nice for the average Joe.  Now it is over… they recently announced that the service will be completely shuttered on January 1, 2012.  At that point you will no longer be able to add info, search or view information etc.  They are giving you until the same time the following year to download or port your information into a new place.  Other PHR solutions like Microsoft’s HealthVault are already promoting the ease with which you can move your Google Health PHP information into their systems. 

Genius Solutions 5010 Update

Genius Solutions is currently working with BCBS as a 5010 pilot tester (currently in Michigan).   We are working closely with BCSBEDI (MI) in testing 5010 format using 5010 test files.  BCBS is only working with about 100 pilot testers at this point and Genius is one of them.  At this time, only the pilot testers are allowed to submit 5010 test files into BCBSEDI.

Genius Solutions Inc. has sent test files from several of our providers into BCBS (MI) which are currently being tested and checked.  We are also hoping to continue to expand our testing within the next few weeks by starting to work with other payors and clearing houses as they become prepared to test. We will be ready to submit 5010 files come 01/01/2012.

Genius 2011 Fall Training Schedule Posted

Click here to download/complete and return the registration form to us.  If you have questions on any of the classes, please e-mail training2009@geniussolutions.com or contact Training at 586-751-9080 / 800-645-0955