Must Know secrets for easier EHR Documentation

Documentation consumes more than a quarter of the time  that clinical staff and physicians save for patient care. In this webinar, CureMD will share some secrets from which medical practices can benefit by documenting more effectively and focus more on patient care.

Must Know secrets for easier EHR Documentation from CureMD on Vimeo.

Must know Secrets For Easier EHR Documentation from CureMD

What impact will ICD-10 have on your practice?

ICD-10 is expected to be implemented on 1^st October, 2015. Despite how far it sounds, providers are running short of time to prepare their practices for the new coding system. In contrast to the existing ICD-9 coding system, ICD-10 is much bigger.

All the coding experts who are well versed with ICD-9 codes will have to go through training for the new coding system from scratch. The latest version of ICD-10 contains over 68,000 codes, as compared to the 13,000 ICD-9 codes. However, it is not necessary to memorize all these codes, especially for small and medium sized physician groups, who should only be concerned with codes related to their particular practices. The major impact of ICD-10 will be on the following key areas:

1.     Financial sustainability

CMS experts are of the view that a decrease in cash flow and revenue will follow the implementation of ICD-10. They have predicted that claim denial rates could increase by 100 to 200 percent and revenue of healthcare organizations could witness declining payments for at least two years post implementation. Pershing Yoakley & Associates, P.C (PYA) identified seven key areas of the continuum of revenue cycle management that organizations must focus on to Prepare for ICD-10. These include updating and testing IT software, adjusting account receivable reserves, preparing for future delayed payments, and keeping track of expected denials.

2.     Workforce

Arrival of ICD-10 will not only be troublesome for coders, but for office staff as well. Preparation for ICD-10 can indirectly affect front-end tasks like patient scheduling, pre-certification, pre-registration and case management functionality. So other than coders, office staff must also be well-educated and trained to deal with the new coding procedures. 

3.     Provider and Vendor Readiness

Although the implementation date for ICD-10 was announced a long time ago, some providers are still stuck in the planning and strategy implementation phase of ICD-10. Moreover, there are others who have not yet established their ICD-10 budgets. Vendors on the other hand are also exposed to a high level of risk when it comes to ICD-10. Providers must ensure that their vendors have upgraded their IT systems and trained their workforce to be ICD-10 ready. Failure of vendors to be prepared for the new coding system is an indication that providers need to look for a new vendor who is capable of meeting their needs.

With so many issues, you’re probably wondering ; why go through the hassle of implementing ICD-10 for your practice? Michael Wilson, Chief Executive of Healthcare information Management (HIM), said that the new ICD-10 diagnosis and procedural codes will lead to accurate payment of new and better procedures, improved administrative performance and enhanced patient care. Other benefits for providers after the twoyear trouble post ICD-10 implementation will be greater efficiency, fewer fraudulent claims and more accurate reimbursements. 

Claim Scrubber : Stop Fighting Denials! Know up to 98% of your rejections before submitting a claim 

Stop Fighting Denials!

Claim denials for the average practice could rise by 100% post ICD-10. Which areas of your practice will ICD-10 affect, where do you need to focus, and what do must you to do to avoid the potential catastrophe that lurks ahead? Watch this video for the answers to all these questions.
 

Claim Scrubber Webinar from CureMD

Road to ICD-10 ... stop fighting denials... by curemd

The Shakespearean World of ICD-10 Mental Disorders

William Shakespeare’s works are known for their universality. His plays and characters are relatable to every time and age. These plays reflect the depravity of society that manifests in the form of human mental disorders including psychopathology.

For Further Read Visit : http://blog.curemd.com/the-shakespearean-world-of-icd-10-mental-disorders/

Is the clash with ICD-10 unavoidable?

October 1, 2015 is the date when healthcare providers must switch from the existing ICD-9 codes to the new and improved ICD-10 code set. The changes seem so extreme that many doctors are still unsure if they’ll be able to adhere to the transition without significant revenue losses.

The change

The existing ICD-9 codes are approximately 17,000 in total, while the updated ICD-10 codes will exceed 155,000 and preparation for these will not only require excess knowledge, but also significant amounts of training and efforts. If your practice is unable to understand, follow and execute these diagnosis-based codes into its workflows in time; you will lose out on a lot of money through Claim Denials and Rejections.

Come October, you will not be allowed to send out claims using ICD-9 codes; you will instead require completely new ones for ICD-10. So how will they differ from the ones in ICD-9? First of all, they will be extremely specific and more comprehensive. That will be in the form of additional sub-codes for each diagnosis and procedure applied. Additionally, the format of ICD-10 codes will differ from their counterparts in ICD-9, and they will have to be learnt all over again.

Workflows at your practice could be disrupted as learning relevant codes from an option base of 155,000 will be no simple task.

What’s important?

On the HealthIT front, your Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Practice Management (PM) solutions will play a big part.  Their vendor’s readiness will be extremely crucial. A foolproof plan for mapping and the actual conversion, options for training, and the availability of software upgrades will be the most important factors.

Now even with a web based EHR and a PM ready for the conversion, there’s still the training of your staff that needs to be handled. Are you looking to hire a ICD-10 team, depute a ICD-10 champion at your practice, or outsource your medical billing? Even then, who will train your nurses, physicians and support staff, and will they be ready before time?

The clash is unavoidable, and preparation is the best way to meet the challenge!

Should a practice Outsource Billing to prepare for ICD 10 Challenge

Should a practice Outsource Billing to prepare for ICD 10 Challenge HD

Our latest webinar “Should a Practice Outsource Billing to Prepare for ICD-10 Challenge?,” presented by CureMD’s senior billing http://goo.gl/gpAsXLexpert Ken Edwards saw 1,500 attendees. In the 30-minute-webinar, which was followed by a Q&A session, the attendees were briefed on how to successfully prepare for the ICD-10 conversion.

Check Out Webinar Video: Here you can also view the slides:

Should a practice outsource billing to prepare for ICD-10 Challenge? from CureMD

Should a practice outsource billing to prepare for ICD-10? (Infographic)

Courtesy of: CureMD

For Further Read Visit : http://blog.curemd.com/outsource-billing-to-prepare-for-icd-10/

How the changes in ICD-10 have more to offer than ICD-9?

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have set October 1, 2015 as the deadline for the implementation of a new and better International Classification of Diseases (ICD) set of codes, commonly referred to as ICD-10. What this will essentially do is, replace the existing 30-year-old codes commonly referred to as ICD-9 which practices are currently using. Why? Because the system has become obsolete, does not have room for expansion and is not in line with international standards of healthcare being followed by other countries.

The implementation of ICD-10 is a long and tedious process. The CMS has emphasized that the deadline is October 1, 2015. On average, small-to-medium practices will require approximately eight to ten months if they are going to implement this new system. It will require extensive training of support staff in the classification of new rules and the way diseases are also classified. What happens when the ICD-10 deadline expires? Well, the CMS promises to implement heavy fines and penalties on those practices which do not adhere to the new rules.

For Further Read Visit: http://blog.curemd.com/how-the-changes-in-icd-10-have-more-to-offer-than-icd-9/

ICD-10: Get your practice ready for the biggest change

The biggest change to the healthcare industry, ICD-10, will come into effect on October 1, 2014 to replace the old ICD -9 system of diagnostic coding. It will also increase the number of diagnostic codes from the current 14,000 to 68,000, signaling a fivefold increase. ICD-10 will enable physicians to track and trend diseases better, code accurately, support future technology, support new payment models, improve utilization and manage quality.

In addition, business-process analysis of health plans, coverage limits, documentation, changes in superbills, system changes, cash flow disruption, staff education and increase in documentation costs will also add to the complexity that ICD-10 will bring to providers.

To further read, visit http://blog.curemd.com/icd-10-get-your-practice-ready-for-the-biggest-change/