ICD-10-CM - The New Medical Coding Challenge Arriving October 1, 2013

On October 1, 2013, the medical coding world as we know it, will awaken to a new and exciting challenge. The 14,000 ICD-9 medical codes that millions of physicians, medical facilities, and hospitals use, will increase to approximately 64,000 codes. With the extra 50,000 codes will come very specified disease diagnoses and the medical coding world will need to brush up on their coding guidelines, their medical terminology and their anatomy and physiology.

January 1, 2012, is the compliance date for the HIPAA 5010 (HIPAA X12 formats version 5010), which is a new format designed to regulate electronic transmissions of specific healthcare transactions. Any medical facility not in compliance will not be able to receive their reimbursements.

Are you ready for ICD-10? Good quality classes in medical terminology and anatomy and physiology will be worth the time and funds spent when you are able to find the new codes with ease.

What medical coding certification are you seeking? Have you made up your mind to seek the certification from the AHIMA (CCS) or from the AAPC (CPC)? Whichever one you choose, make sure you use the study guides for general information, but also, and most importantly, study the coding books depending on what test you are taking and what specialty you decide on. Know the different surgeries in each of the chapters of the CPT book. You can order some instructional coding books that give you an opportunity to practice coding with the answers in the back of the book. In-patient hospital and physician offices will need to know the E & M codes forward and backward. Learn how to find ICD codes quickly and learn where modifiers are needed. Familiarize yourself with the HCPCS codes. Check with coding associations and take practice tests to help you get ready to be tested. Get a good nights rest, eat a nourishing breakfast and go into the testing room with a positive attitude in becoming the next coding specialist.

Many medical coders are fortunate in finding medical coding jobs where they can work from home. What a dream to be able to work from home and not have to leave the house. After years of experience working in a facility, it is possible to find a medical coding job opportunity and work from home.

Medical coding is a very challenging profession. To succeed in medical coding, one must study medical terminology and anatomy and physiology. Being successful is not only knowing the medical language and where all of the body parts are, it is also important to know the government guidelines and to know how to match the medical necessity codes correctly to the procedure codes. The reward will not only be the provider reimbursement from submitting clean claims, but also the satisfaction of knowing that the challenges were met!

Nancy Krall is a retired nurse and works as a medical coder in outpatient radiology and has a medical coding website http://www.icd-diagnosis.com that features ICD-10 resources and a new eBook "ICD Medical Thesaurus For Coders".

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