According to a recent report, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are pressing for the inclusion of a new set of codes into the ICD-10 CM/PCS Codes. If everything goes as per the plans, the new set of codes will be added in October 1 this year. They are supposed to be used from the beginning of the 2017 fiscal year. The report further adds that the decision will ensure the inclusion of more than 3,651 hospital inpatient procedure codes and 1,943 diagnosis codes.
Earlier, it was reported that CMS had stopped the procedure to include the new set of codes for the time being as there were confusions regarding the transition from the old codes to the new codes. As such, the organizations had been given a grace period during which the healthcare providers and other concerned organizations could get familiar with the new set of rules.
Although a good number of organizations in the healthcare industry have welcomed the transition from the old coding system to the new coding system, there are still many who think that the transition would not go well or they would be forced to depend on medical billing outsourcing. They emphasize on the grace period so that they could get enough time to get familiar with the new codes.
Meanwhile, a recent internal survey conducted by HBMA reveals that a number of issues are there to be addressed. Among these, the transition is not regarded as the greatest concern. The concerns regarding the transition are much expected, as it is unavoidable.
Like healthcare providers, the medical billing companies too have expressed their concerns over the transition from the old coding systems to the new coding system. In their opinion, there are a lot of challenges yet to be addressed before the transition really takes place. Their prime concern is that a quick transition would result in a decline in the coding productivity. Similarly, it would also cause a surge in the claim denials.
As of now, the surveys about the adoption of HBMA ICD-10 codes have caused a lot of confusions and frustrations among the healthcare providers, medical billing companies and eligible physicians. It is certain that some of the medical billing companies would be forced now to outsource medical billing to cope with the transition.