Five Facts about ICD-10

To help dispel some of the myths surrounding ICD-10, CMS recently talked with providers to identify common misperceptions about the transition to ICD-10. These five facts address some of the common questions and concerns CMS has heard about ICD-10:

• The ICD-10 transition date is October 1, 2015. The government, payers, and large providers alike have made a substantial investment in ICD-10. This cost will rise if the transition is delayed, and further ICD-10 delays will lead to an unnecessary rise in health care costs. Get ready now for ICD-10.
• You don’t have to use 68,000 codes. Your practice does not use all 13,000 diagnosis codes available in ICD-9, nor will it be required to use the 68,000 codes that ICD-10 offers. As you do now, your practice will use a very small subset of the codes.
• You will use a similar process to look up ICD-10 codes that you use with ICD-9. Increasing the number of diagnosis codes does not necessarily make ICD-10 harder to use. As with ICD-9, an alphabetic index and electronic tools are available to help you with code selection.
• Outpatient and office procedure codes aren’t changing. The transition to ICD-10 for diagnosis coding and inpatient procedure coding does not affect the use of Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) for outpatient and office coding. Your practice will continue to use CPT.
• All Medicare Fee-For-Service providers have the opportunity to conduct testing with CMS before the ICD-10 transition. Your practice or clearinghouse can conduct acknowledgement testing at any time with your Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC). Testing will ensure that you can submit claims with ICD-10 codes. During a special acknowledgement testing week to be held in June 2015, you will have access to real-time help desk support. Contact your MAC for details about testing plans and opportunities.

Keep Up to Date on ICD-10: Visit the ICD-10 website for the latest news and resources to help you prepare.