Although CMS has established an ICD-10 ombudsman to help providers with any ICD-10 problems and concerns, the ACR practice management and coding staff will also have a triage and call center to help members with minor ICD-10 coding or errors. Staff have developed a stronger communication and collaboration platform that can help keep better track of any ICD-10 implementation issues and coding errors before, on and after Oct. 1.
For faster response to questions or concerns, members can send questions to [email protected] or contact the coding staff at 404-633-3777. In addition, visit the ACR website, often for all ICD-10 FAQs and coding updates on guidelines and conventions.
In case issues occur, the coding staff will be monitoring and responding to:
- Coding and billing questions;
- Rejections and denials from CMS;
- Rejections and denials from private payers;
- Updating the rheumatology ICD-10 crosswalk;
- Monitoring ICD-10 guideline changes or coding conventions, and
- Other post-implementation issues.
The news that claims will not be denied due to minor ICD-10 errors has definitely alleviated some fears of many physicians across the country, since the Oct. 1 deadline seems inevitable. However, it is still necessary for the correct family of codes to be chosen from the ICD-10 code set in order to meet billing requirements. The ACR recommends providers continue fine tuning their operation plans to meet the deadline, train staff, and finalize any relevant testing on all systems and office processes. At this point, vendors should be able to demonstrate readiness of their EMR system with ICD-10 coding. No matter how prepared you may be in your practice, if vendors are not ready, this will affect your bottom line. Key actions should exhibit that their system(s) can accept ICD-10 codes and has the capability to process dual coding for both ICD-9 and ICD‑10. Continue to monitor their readiness up to the implementation deadline and also audit them through post-implementation to make sure your claims are processing correctly.
Improved communications with payers and vendors will be a vital part of the transition to the new code set. It is recommended to have a point person on staff to be a spokesperson in this capacity and to handle all pre- and post-ICD-10 issues that may arise in the practice. The goal is to send out correct claims the first time, and it is a good idea to have your ICD-10 staff review and scrub all claims before billing out—this will save a lot of time on the back end. Remember: documentation is the key to coding, and this guideline is necessary to use the correct family of codes in ICD‑10. It is a good time to take these last couple of weeks to review all documentation guidelines required for the rheumatology ICD‑10 family of codes.
