Keeping ICD-10 Relevant Amidst Change RVHIMA

Keeping ICD-10 Relevant
Amidst Change
RVHIMA – April 10, 2015
John Stearman, RHIA, MS
Ellen Arnold, RHIA
John Overview

Why do I care?

How Congress works

 How
a federal bill becomes law
 How
ICD10 was derailed last year
How everyone can be involved in the process
 Keeping
an eye on Congress
 Influencing
your leaders
Why do I care?

ICD-9 is a 1974 Ford Pinto in a Ferrari world

We as individuals and collectively as HIM professionals can influence the
process.

Time, money, effort, and – most importantly - our sanity is at risk.
How a federal bill becomes law
aka Welcome back to high school civics
Creating bills is the job of the House of
Representatives
 Once the bill passes the House it then goes to the
Senate
 If the bill passes the Senate, it then goes to the
president for signature
 If all the above happens successfully the bill
becomes law


http://kids.clerk.house.gov/grade-school/lesson.html?intID=17
Throwing a Wrench in the Process

Vetoes

Over-riding a veto

Presidential pocket veto

Riders

How ICD-10 got derailed last time
 H.R.
 The
4302 Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014
ICD10 part was a rider – passed the Senate
03/31/2014 and was signed into law by the president
the next day
Throwing a Wrench in the Process continued

There was speculation killing ICD-10 would be
tacked onto the spending bill to keep the Federal
government moving in December 2014 – it did not

The bill left the House and was confirmed by the
Senate
Influencing the Process
All of us have the right / obligation to influence
bills
 How?

 VOTE!
 Contact
 John
your Representatives
Yarmuth
 Contact
your Senator
 Mitch
McConnell – Senate Majority Leader
 Rand
Paul – running for President
 Phone
calls, emails, snail-mail letters
Influencing the Process 
Lobbyists

Party Politics

Mailing lists

For example, Meaningful Use Stage 3

Proposed rule is announced – comment period

The Federal Register
If
continued
we don’t make ourselves heard
we get what we get!
Useful Websites

Who is my Congressman?


What is going on with a bill?


http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
https://www.govtrack.us/
The Federal Register

https://www.federalregister.gov/
Where Do We Stand Now?
T – 6 Months and Counting
WEDI ICD-10 Readiness Survey Results

WEDI ICD-10 Readiness Survey conducted in February 2015


1,174 participants

Healthcare providers

Vendors

Health Plans
Conclusions

ICD-10 readiness is not what it should be

Healthcare organizations were wary to put resources into ICD-10 preparation

There are concerns that the ICD-10 deadline would be delayed again

Although the latest delay was meant to give more time to prepare for ICD-10
implementation not enough healthcare organizations took advantage of the time
WEDI ICD-10 Readiness Survey Results
Healthcare Providers
Vendors
Health Plans
•1/3 of healthcare
providers report
completion of ICD-10
impact assessments
•Hospital systems were
ahead of physicians by a
margin of 3 to 1
•50% of hospitals report
external testing has
started
•10% of physician
practices report external
testing has started
•25% plan to start
external testing in
second or third quarter
of 2015
•All have started product
development
•Only 60% were ready and
available for testing
•This is down from the
same survey conducted
in August, 2014
•Progress on finishing
their impact assessments
•50% report external
testing has begun
•25% plan to test with
most of their healthcare
providers
•60% plan to just test
with a sample of
healthcare providers
•10% plan to test with
just clearinghouses
Priorities
Planning
Testing and resources needs
Dual Coding plan
Payer testing
Coder review and training
Education and communication
System remediation and testing
Post Implementation and follow up
Where Do We Stand Now?
Education
Coder Education

Coder retention of ICD-10 knowledge

Evaluate current coder knowledge and capabilities


Coders trained to meet the previous 10/1/2014 ICD-10
deadline may have forgotten much of what they
learned
Keep coders engaged with ICD-10 as much as
possible

Refresher courses (online, instructor led)

Boot camps

Dual coding
Coder Education

Dual coding strategy

Ongoing practice and feedback is essential


If unable to implement dual coding other avenues for
practice must be explored
Metrics gathered during the dual coding process
have multiple benefits

An estimate of the amount of productivity loss from
the ICD-10 implementation

An estimate of the areas of concern with regard to
clinical documentation

An estimate of potential revenue loss

DRG Shift – gains and losses

Productivity loss = increase in AR days
Coder Education

Dual coding strategy – questions to answer

What is the impact that a diagnosis like hypertension will
have on DRGs and CMI after 10/1/2015?

Which medical records are un-codable in ICD-10 today
without some form of query or other intervention?

How are common CCs and MCCs that were applied in ICD-9
not applicable in ICD-10 causing a DRG shift?

How many coders and CDI specialists will be needed to deal
with increased numbers of queries, concurrent or
retrospective, for ICD-10 documentation issues?

Will CMI go up, down, or remain the same when ICD-10 is
implemented?
Coder Education

Dual coding strategy

What approach works best for your
organization?

Create a workflow diagram of how the
process will work

What are your feedback mechanisms?

Communication is key


Regular meetings for coders to discuss
issues
Coding staff will need to be supplemented
Physician/Provider Education

ICD-10 is really a clinical documentation improvement initiative

Active, committed physician participation, starting with the chief
medical officer (CMO) and chief medical informatics officer (CMIO)
is critical to the success of every ICD-10 implementation project

Resistance from physicians makes progress in the ICD-10
implementation slow and painful
Physician/Provider Education

Why are physicians so resistant?

Healthcare industry interest groups have generated mixed messages about
the value of ICD-10—if its so important why all the delays?

Physicians aren’t convinced that ICD-10 offers any value in making
improvements to treating patients

Physicians seem to hear only a narrowly focused message about coding

Its just for billing
Physician/Provider Education

How do we manage this change?

Strong executive support is essential

Identify a committed, influential physician who will enthusiastically help
sponsor the ICD-10 conversion effort

Consider how to make ICD-10 assistance part of a larger physician
engagement strategy

Offer physician education – online, peer-to-peer/elbow-to-elbow, specialty specific

Work with office staff and educate them as well

Incorporate ICD-10 into the clinical documentation improvement (CDI)
process

Focus on the pros and outlaw the cons
Physician/Provider Education

Greater documentation specificity
requirements

Communicate and direct providers to
education venues

Provide tools to make the transitions


Extensive online education programs that offer
CMEs

Documentation tip sheets/tent cards

Laminated pocket cards
Communicate new specificity required for top
diagnoses and procedures

Offer specialty specific education tracks
Physician/Provider Education

Best avenues of communication?

Tap into existing meetings

Physician leadership meetings

Standing department meetings

Online through existing physician communication avenues

CDI Queries

Coder Queries
Physician/Provider Education

Some things to keep in mind

Physician productivity, just like coder productivity, will drop

Update documentation templates to support greater specificity

Physicians and other providers using an online tool to assign ICD-10 codes
may not be offered the “best” code in the top five to 10 codes that are
displayed


It takes time to look through potentially hundreds of codes to find the best fit
Order placement for ICD-10 compliant orders
Other Areas Where Education is
Necessary

Define the lifecycle of a diagnosis and/or
procedure code

Patient Access

Scheduling

Verification

Advance Beneficiary Notification

CDI Coordinators

EMR Team

Patient Financial Services
Where Do We Stand Now?
Systems Remediation and Testing
Testing Resources

Testing is a team effort

IT

Patient Access

E.M.R. Team

HIM/CDI

Patient Financial Services
What To Test
Systems Remediation and Testing
Are Your Systems Really Ready?

An integrated test system must be in place so that
all ICD-10 affected applications can be tested in
tandem

All ICD-10 affected IT applications must be at
“keystone” release

The release that will be supported by the vendor
going forward (this is not necessarily the first ICD-10
compliant release)

Be sure that a current test set of ICD-10 codes has
been loaded into each application’s test system

Be sure that application analysts are aware of the
parameters that must be set up with correct dates
for ICD-10 testing

Have a clear plan for identifying problems and
retesting
Parting Words
Things to Keep in Mind
Things to Keep in Mind During the
Transition

Even if all your systems are tested and ready, it will take vendors
just as much time to release the regulatory changes for Fiscal Year
2016 as it does every year

General timeline - regulatory updates go out to customers in mid to
late September

All updates must then be applied to all affected applications and
retested

This rarely if ever happens by October 1st

Productivity in all areas will decrease so be prepared and staff up

AR days will increase

Bill to payment days will increase so be prepared

Insurance companies may say they’re ready for ICD-10 but a large
number of them will be mapping your ICD-10 codes back to some
version of ICD-9
According to CMS Conversion Project
Results

Slightly more than 99% of the cases showed no change in MS-DRG when
coded in ICD-10

Of the 1% of the cases with MS-DRG shifts, 45% of those shifted to higher
weight MS-DRGs and 55% shifted to lower weight MS-DRGs

The aggregate weight change of the 6 cases that shifted to higher weight
MS-DRGs was 0.10% (one tenth of one percent or an approximate increase of
1/1000th of the ICD-9 reimbursement)

The aggregate weight change of the cases that shifted to lower weight MSDRGs was -0.14% (an approximate reduction of 14/10,000th of the ICD-9
reimbursement)

The net weight change of all MS-DRG shifts in the analysis was -0.04% (4
one-hundredths of a percent, or an approximate reduction of 4/10,000th of
the ICD-9 reimbursement)

This is equivalent to a loss of four pennies (.04) per $100 paid under ICD-9

That’s $99.96 to every $100.00 earned today
According to CMS Conversion Project Results
Top 10 DRG Shifts
1.
2.
MS-DRG 812, Red blood cell disorders w/o MCC - HIGHER
MS-DRG 981, Extensive O.R. procedure unrelated to principal diagnosis
w/MCC – LOWER
3. MS-DRG 391, Esophagitis, gastroent & misc digest disorders w MCC –
LOWER
4. MS-DRG 885, Psychoses – LOWER
5. MS-DRG 066, Intracranial hemorrhage or cerebral infarction w/o
CC/MCC – HIGHER
6. MS-DRG 191, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with CC – LOWER
7. MS-DRG 011, Tracheostomy for face, mouth and neck diagnoses with
MCC - HIGHER
8. MS-DRG 974, HIV with major related condition and MCC - LOWER
9. MS-DRG 292, Heart failure and shock with CC - LOWER
10. MS-DRG 037, Extracranial procedures with MCC - LOWER
Remember,
there is an
ICD-10
code for
nearly
everything
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTq6gW31p3E
Remember,
there is an
ICD-10
code for
nearly
everything
X61.112
Fall Into Grave,
Vacated Likely by
Zombie
See Injury by Zombie (ZA0-ZA5) if
Zombie was encountered and
secondary injury occurred
ICD-10-CM FY2015 Version Draft Exposure to Paranormal Forces