My Staff is Reluctant to Change to ICD 10, What Should I do for my Billing and Coding?

  Billing and coding procedures are set to become more complex due to ICD-10. So, if you want to minimize claim denials and maximize revenue you need to have well-trained staff at your practice. Providers need to understand that coding complexities will affect the productivity of in-house staff. They will be confronted with requirements for updated, complex encounter forms and super-bills along with greater knowledge of medical terminology and anatomy.
ICD-10 changes are going to be extensive and with less than a year left, staff should be encouraged to learn the new coding system to eliminate chances of errors. Early preparation and timely review can help overcome any challenges that arise due to ICD-10.

What measures need to be taken by practices?

Practices can either invest time and money in providing procedural training to the staff or outsource their coding and billing requirements to a billing company.

• Money needs to be spent on conducting training sessions and buying learning materials for the staff
• Sufficient time will have to be invested by providers to learn accurate documentation which will eventually help coders
• Staff needs to be trained on new systems and procedures including EHRs, practice management system and computer assisted coding
• They will also require training on handling super-bills and ensuring compliance to HIPAA and other reforms
• Practices will have to retain employees by increasing their payments as they will be handling increased workload due to ICD-10

Is lack of time and resources posing problems?

With so much to do in such less time, it becomes challenging for the doctors to focus on quality patient care. Small practices with limited staff and resources will be the worst hit with ICD-10. Hiring new staff and ensuring their retention becomes a challenge due to lack of money whereas training existing coders becomes a challenges due to time constraint.
Since they can’t afford to reduce cash flow or affect the provision of care, outsourcing billing and coding needs makes sense. A billing company will eliminate the headache of hiring new coders or staff to handle complexities of ICD-10.
Such companies have a team of expert coders and billers who are constantly updated with the reforms in the healthcare industry. Since a well-trained team will be assigned to handle the billing tasks of a medical practice, doctors will be able to focus on patient care rather than internal ICD-10 testing and training.

Medicalbillersandcoders.com offers expert help to practices in smooth transition to ICD-10. We not just offer effective solutions for maximizing practice revenue but also help providers in finding drawbacks in their billing procedures. Latest technologies are used at MBC for handling daily operations of a practice. Apart from offering services related to payer interaction, HIPAA compliance, consultancy and research MBC can also help you in placement of trained coders and billers for your practice. While we work towards strengthening your financial health, you can concentrate on patient care.