More ICD-10 changes are on the way nearly two years after the coding system went live on Oct. 1, 2015, according to a blog by Jerris Heaton, marketing coordinator at Salt Lake City-based health IT company ChartLogic.
About half of 1,900 proposed code changes were approved by CMS and the CDC at the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee for fiscal year 2017; the changes are slated for implementation Oct. 1.
In his blog, Mr. Heaton details the more than 800 ICD-10 code changes slated for implementation. These changes, as of Aug. 9, include 419 added codes, 273 revised codes and 123 deleted codes. Mr. Heaton notes the changes will be in effect through the end of September next year.
"Healthcare services are now tasked with updating their practice management, EHR and other systems to reflect the multitude of additions, revisions and deletions made to ICD-10 codes," he writes.
He adds, "Practices currently using procedure codes that will be deleted must retrieve the new codes that represent the same procedures for billing. They must also become familiar with codes for new billing scenarios and revisions that add details to existing codes."
Mr. Heaton said many code changes fall under the H54 "Blindness and low vision" and O00 "Ectopic pregnancy" categories, and there will also be a specific ICD-10 code "when a patient is in remission from abuse of each of a variety of substances." The author listed various other changes such as new codes for Myocardial infarction (MI), heart failure and non-procreative genetic counseling.
Read the full blog and access information about the individual code changes here.
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