ICD 10 Implementation Delay, Push for ICD 11 - SNOMED

Skipping ICD-10 for ICD-11, May Not Be a Good Idea

In the wake of CMS’s decision to delay the ICD-10 implementation, certain quarters, notably medical experts championing Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms or SNOMED, have pushed instead for the community to go straight to ICD-11, skipping ICD-10 entirely. Many problems attend the proposal, not the least the retraining of ICD-10 trainers—for instance, for teaching medical coding online training or medical coding online courses—as ICD-11 trainers.

An article by Rhonda Butler, a senior clinical research analyst for 3M Health Information Systems for healthcarefinancenews.com, however, argues that the U.S. has in fact started implementing ICD-10 some 19 years ago. 

According to Butler, federal agencies inaugurated ICD-10 implementation in 1993 by prepping to develop a clinical tweak to ICD-10—a U.S. version, as it were—then obtaining a grant and assigning a contractor to develop a clinical modification. The same was done for a procedure coding system. 

A thorough iteration of comment periods for both systems, testing of both systems, preliminary crosswalks, pilot studies, cost analysis studies, even the launch of programs to train ICD-10 trainers, among other steps, was conducted through the years. 

In short the medical community can’t afford to skip to ICD-11, contends the article, because it has already spent 19 years getting ready for ICD-10. Too much time, resources, and money have already been spent getting close to ICD-10. Butler says that if it took the industry almost two decades to get that close to ICD-10, what more a more extensive coding system like ICD-11.

While the debates about the new compliance date for ICD-10 roil the medical community, different quarters—including providers of medical coding online training or medical coding online courses—are nevertheless moving forward with their agenda, in line with which side of the fence they’re on. 

The American Hospital Association (AHA), for one, is pushing ahead with its Coding Clinic Audio Conference Series, even while the implementation date of ICD-10 looks uncertain for this year and is looking increasingly more like it will be 2013. AHA is a nonprofit association of health-care provider organizations and individuals with over 5,000 member hospitals, health systems, and other health-care organizations, and 42,000 individual members.

AHA’s upcoming Conference Series consists of live conference broadcasts featuring ICD-10-PCS procedure coding content. 

AHA has announced that first up is “Introduction to the Basics of ICD-10-PCS Procedure Coding,” to be presented on April 18, 2012. The audio conference will introduce key concepts on ICD-10-PCS coding, as well as cover the basics of code selection and explain the Alphabetical Index and Tabular List. 

On May 16, 2012, AHA will present “Understanding ICD-10-PCS Official Coding Guidelines,” which will cover general and ICD-10-PCS Medical Surgical Section coding guidelines. AHA has confirmed that surgical examples applying ICD-10-PCS codes will also be taken up. 

Both live audio conferences will run from 12:00 to 1:45 pm CST.

AHA staff members Nelly Leon-Chisen, RHIA, director, Coding and Classification; Anita Rapier, RHIT, CCS, senior coding consultant; and Gretchen Young-Charles, RHIA, senior coding consultant, will be the presenters for both audio conferences.