CMS Offers Help with ICD-10 Transition

As the countdown continues to the Oct 1 deadline, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is offering a wide range of new resources to prepare healthcare providers for the ICD-10 code transition.

Among other resources, CMS is offering webinars, onsite training, educational resources and a national provider call set for August 27.

Earlier this month, CMS and the American Medical Association jointly granted a one-year grace period during which certain Medicare claims will not be denied as a result of ICD-10 coding errors.

The sheer number and complexity of codes under ICD-10 creates a greater margin for error. There will be 70,000 choices of diagnosis codes alone vs. 16,000 choices currently available to describe a condition, illness, injury or symptom.

While radiologists aren’t doing the actual coding, they will need to train coders and work closely with referring physicians to ensure compliance with the more detailed reporting requirements.

CMS has twice postponed the ICD-10 transition since its original Oct. 1 2013 deadline.

Web Extras

Read "ICD-10: Are Your Prepared for the October Transition?" and access ICD-10 resources in the August issue of RSNA.org/News