ICD-10 Testing and Countdown to October 1, 2015

We know that most of our customers are ready for the switch to ICD-10 for diagnosis codes in their claim files. But just in case you are not quite there yet, please subscribe to the bulletins that CMS sends regarding this transition. Short of that, take a look at some of their recent posts wherein they focus on the 5th of their recommended steps to prepare for ICD-10:

1.  Make a plan.
2. Train your staff.
3. Update your processes.
4. Talk with your vendors and health plans.
5. Test your systems and processes.

If you are still at a loss, or you are new to your organization and want to have a better understanding of this whole ICD-10 transition, feel free to take a look at our previous posts on this topic:

1. Mental Health Billing and the ICD-10 – 10/31/2008
2. ICD-10: How will the change affect your life? – 9/21/2009
3. Three things you need to know about mental health billing in 2012 – 1/16/2012
4. CMS: Are you familiar with their newsletters and eLists? – 8/20/2012
5. ICD-10 Implementation – 6/27/2013
6. New CMS-1500 Forms Required Soon – 9/13/2013
7. CMS Notices on ICD-10 Transition Become More Concerned – 11/19/2013
8. ICD-10 Challenges Behavioral Health Providers – 2/5/2014
9. Congress Throws a monkey wrench into ICD-10 Implementation – 4/1/2014
10. ICD-10 Implementation Rule Announced . . . Again – 8/19/2014
11. ICD-10 Strategy: Be prepared – 4/21/2015
12. SOS-at-Large: Our top 10 blog posts – 5/15/2015
13. CMS completes second round of ICD-10 end-to-end testing – 6/3/2015
14. Change is in the air! Are you ready? – 7/21/2015

If you are an SOS customer with a current support agreement and have no idea about ICD-10 changes, please contact us as soon as possible!

Here’s one last bit of information. Out of concern for the transition to ICD-10 and the learning process that provider organizations must endure, the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have developed CMS Guidance for providers to help with some of the concerns. CMS developed their Guidance in the form of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and a Clarification of the Guidance. If you have concerns about what you should do if you run into problems once you start using the ICD-10, be sure to take a look at these documents.