LAS VEGAS – ICD-10 and 5010 implementation will affect medical practices in different ways, but they will have a significant impact said Regina Hayes, business office manager of an orthopedic practice in North Carolina.
Hayes offered five steps for medical practices to make successful transitions to 5010 and ICD-10 in a presentation Monday held during the Medical Group Management Association’s conference in Las Vegas.
Her five steps to ICD-10 and 5010 revenue cycle management success are:
1. Planning: In the planning process for each implementation, it is important that practices create a timeline, Hayes said. A timeline allows practices to focus their priorities, figure out what resources will be needed and coordinate with vendors.
2. IT upgrades: It is important to identify how the 5010 and ICD-10 transition will impact your IT systems, Hayes said. In the case of ICD-10, practices’ biggest challenge will be to make sure the codes are loaded into practice management systems and electronic health records systems.
3. Process updates: Training for staff is critical as is a backup plan if things don’t go as expected. For 5010, ask what processes are in place to monitor inbound and outbound transactions. For ICD-10, realize that you’ll have to re-learn and re-think the diagnosis coding process.
4.Testing: Keep in mind that you’ll need to devote staff time and resources for testing. For 5010, make sure to get testing schedules from all of your health IT vendors. For ICD-10, test with your large payers/highest volume payers first and test through the whole claim, keeping an eye out for cash interruptions.
5. Implementation/Monitoring: On the compliance dates and in the days following, monitor to make sure things are operating as expected.
Follow HFN associate editor Stephanie Bouchard on Twitter @SBouchardHFN.
