Let's spend time calling instead of coding

Way back in 2008, my friend and colleague John Halamka wrote this post about the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 codes, the codes that are used to record clinical activity for the purpose of reimbursement by Medicare and other insurers. John is the unquestioned national expert in health care IT systems. At the time, he was "enthusiastic about the adoption of new standards that enhance semantic interoperability. The use of modern vocabulary standards such as ICD-10 improve administrative efficiency, enhance the ability of decision support systems to enforce guidelines, and enable a more granular reimbursement process." But, he also pointed out the logistical and training problems inherent in this kind of transformation:The overall cost of implementing this change is technological and operational. For example, there must be modifications to existing training curriculum as well as claim submission and payment policies to ensure no adverse impact to the revenue cycle. I anticipate a real challenge to train, recruit, and retain ICD-10 savvy coders.Well, that may have been one of the biggest understatements in health care for the decade.  As I have traveled the country, few issues have raised more concern than this one.  By 2011, John Halamka was warning us:If Congress was doing its job of regulatory oversight, they would sponsor hearings to learn what payers and providers are actually spending on ICD-10 conversion. Costs for consulting services alone run ...
Source: Running a hospital - Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs