Icd 10 Medical Billing And Coding
Medical Billing And Collections
ICD-10 medical coding Services
The ICD-10 medical coding implementation, as expected, has created across-the-board duress for physicians, payers, software vendors and any other provider of healthcare services requiring medical claims submissions.
To demonstrate the complexity of the switch from ICD-9 to ICD-10, the former contained about 14,000 codes; ICD-10 has approximately 144,000 codes and more codes will be added for 2017. One method of overcoming this challenge to healthcare providers and facilities is to outsource their medical billing and collections as well as coding needs to a company like Elegance Healthcare LLC.
Our dedicated team of medical coders quickly becomes familiar with the client’s coding processes and services. They work closely with each client to ensure high quality coding performances and regulations.
Icd 10 Medical Billing And Coding Services
Apart from the increase in the amount of codes available, the ICD-10 medical billing transition has also provided challenges in A/R and denial management. The percentage of denials is expected to increase exponentially until the new system ‘beds- in’ between the provider generated coding and what the Payer systems can adjudicate. Beginning October 1, 2016, CMS has implemented a rule that states providers must code diagnosis to the highest specificity. This means no more unspecified coding. An example of this is ensuring that every diagnosis is as specific as possible; this includes laterality and etiology of the condition. The first time a patient is seen and prior to an ordered test result is received an unspecified code may be used, but the follow up appointment must contain the new specific diagnosis.
There are other challenges as well. One of those challenges is billing for Medical Necessity; many codes that could be billed from ICD-9 may not work when converted to ICD10 for certain procedures. Many sections of the ICD-10 medical coding manual are expanded well past that of ICD-9. Although technology did play a major role in ensuring a smooth transition, there is a big manual effort involved as well. It is best to have an experienced and knowledgeable ICD-10 medical coding team to ensure proper coding practices.
