Bookmark and Share PrintE-mail
  ICD10 Watch
by Carl Natale


Is that a superbill in your lab coat or are you glad to use ICD-10?

Posted on Fri, Dec 14, 2012 - 11:06 am

One of the big parts of preparing for ICD-10 implementation is reviewing your forms and making the necessary changes to accommodate ICD-10 codes. Probably the most important form is the superbill.

Holly Cassano has a good post that discusses how to simplify converting superbills to ICD-10 codes. She recommends starting  with the top 50 diagnoses at your medical practice. To get a sense of how a superbill conversion would work, she links to a sample ICD-10 superbill created by the American Academy of Family Physicians. There also are some instructions for making it work:

While you're at it, look at Lisa Eramo's advice on preparing an ICD-10 superbill.

Which is all very good. But does the increase in diagnosis codes mean your superbill won't be viable after ICD-10 implementation? Cassano offers very strong advice for keeping the superbill manageable. "I suggest paring down to what you absolutely need for a primary superbill," she writes. "And then look to creating visit-specific superbills, for chronic conditions, musculoskeletal, and so forth."

So you may need a superbill and several sidekicks.

One last thought. With electronic health records (EHRs) promising to make documentation more efficient, it's worth considering electronic superbills to treat problems with efficiency and code bloat.

 Examine your ICD-9 codes to start your ICD-10 assessment

Speaking of reviewing forms, you need to review all the places your medical practice uses ICD-9 codes. This post includes the six steps released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) last week. (ICD-10 Watch)

 ICD-10 Implementation Timeline

This outline of steps and tips has been updated with recent content posted in the blog. (ICD-10 Watch)

ICD-10 Transition: Problems you need to look for

A quick look at some of the challenges and hurdles that need to be overcome for a successful ICD-10 transition. (ICD-10 Watch)

CMS releases new DRG manual

The he ICD-10-CM/PCS MS-DRG v30 Definitions Manual is not the final version of the Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Groups (MS-DRG). (ICD-10 Watch)

Dentists chew over competing diagnostic code sets for EHR use

Why should medical doctors have all the fun?

  • Dentists use Current Dental Terminology (CDT) for billing and benefits reporting but are looking for a diagnostic code set.
  • EZCodes Dental Diagnostic Terminology is very ICD like with 1,358 terms describe diseases.
    • But it's not being used.
  • SNODENT isn't a teeth-whitening gum.
    • It's the Systemized Nomenclature of Dentistry developed by the American Dental Association.
    • It has more than 7,000 codes.
    • It isn't being used yet.
  • Or maybe dentists will use ICD-9 codes

(EHRintelligence.com)

A Look Back at 2012: ICD-10 Ready, Set, Wait!

Quick review of how ICD-10 preparations and delays. (For the Health of IT)