Get Ready for ICD-10 with Medisoft

The recent reprieve by the Office of Health and Human Services may have left you breathing a little easier, but ICD-10 is still coming, and coming fast. As of now, all practices must be in compliance with the new coding standards by October 1, 2014 but the test period begins in just a few months. Those physician practices that get a head start will start seeing the significant benefits of the new code system much sooner. If you haven’t done so already, this is the time to transition your medical billing and electronic patient records to ICD-10 ready Medisoft EMR. Here’s why.
Training Time
Expect that your staff will need significant training time to learn the new ICD-10 system. The new system represents significant changes from the traditional medical codes – not just new codes, but a whole new code structure. Where the current codes use 5 characters, the new codes will be 7 characters long and include both alphabetic and numeric characters. The grouping of injuries will change, as well the groupings of sense and nervous system disorders. The new system also represents increasing the diagnostic codes fivefold – that’s five times as many diagnostic codes as those used by the current standard. That’s a lot to learn.
IT Systems
IT systems will have to be modified to comply with and support ICD-10. Those include electronic patient records, electronic medical billing software and practice management software. Medisoft EMR and Practice Choice EMR Support ICD-10, and most resellers of Medisoft products are working on ways to make the changeover easier for you and your staff.
The Good News – Benefits of ICD-10
One of the major benefits of adopting ICD-10 is the result: a much richer and more detailed data set stemming from the in-depth diagnosis required to comply with the new standard. The enhanced information will allow you to prepare your practice for PQRS (physician quality reporting systems) and pay-for-performance programs. McKesson Medisoft and the company’s other practice management and EMR products are designed for efficiency. They will make your transition to the new standards and the new reporting systems far easier and more cost effective.
Getting through the transition period to ICD-10 will be difficult – most providers recognize the hurdlers and barriers – but the end results will be significantly better patient outcomes, more time to spend with your patients and a smoother payment and reimbursement experience. Medisoft and Medisoft resellers are working hard to minimize the bumps in the road so that you see the real benefits of better electronic patient records, practice management and medical coding sooner.