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".

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

What to Expect From the New ICD-10-CM Medical Coding

With the ICD-10-CM implementation date on the horizon, there may be questions about this new medical coding system. Why is it needed? What are the changes? How will it affect my medical coding career? While you're very familiar with ICD-9-CM, you may wonder what the ICD-10-CM system is all about. Here's some helpful information:

What is ICD-9-CM? ICD-9-CM (International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition, Clinical Modifications) is a set of codes used by physicians, hospitals, and health care professionals to indicate the diagnosis for all patient visits. ICD-9-CM contains approximately 13,000 codes; these codes are mandatory for all health insurance claims in the U.S.

ICD-9 diagnosis codes consist of 3-5 numeric characters representing illnesses and conditions; alpha-numeric E codes describing external causes of injuries, poisonings, and adverse effects; and V codes describe factors influencing health status and contact with health services.

What is ICD-10-CM? ICD-10-CM is the long awaited diagnosis code revision to ICD-9-CM. This coding system contains approximately 68,000 codes. ICD-10 has been in use throughout the world for both morbidity and mortality statistics since 1994. It has been required for reporting mortality statistics in the United States since 1999.

The ICD-10-CM codes are very different from the codes included in the ICD-9-CM medical coding system. All codes for ICD-10-CM are alpha-numeric. There may be up to seven alpha-numeric characters - which will require extensive changes to billing software programs to accommodate the additional digits, as well as additional medical coding training to familiarize people with the new codes.

Why is the new ICD-10-CM coding system needed?

The ICD-9-CM system, which has been in use since 1979, has run its due course and provides the following limitations:

Limited Space - It is running out of numbers to assign for codes and in some cases, new code proposals have not been adopted because of limited space
Not Specific Enough - Its diagnosis codes do not describe the severity or complexity of the various disease conditions. This has resulted in increasing requests for additional documentation in order to support claims.
No Exchange of Information - It hinders the exchange of meaningful health care data with health care organizations and professionals around the world.

What are the benefits of adopting ICD-10-CM?

The anticipated benefits of implementing the new ICD-10 medical coding system include: expanded injury codes, grouped according to site rather than type of injury; combination of diagnosis/symptom codes; addition of sixth character with some codes extended out to the seventh character; laterality (left and right specific where applicable); V and E codes incorporated into the main classification; obstetric codes that identify trimester; addition of ambulatory and managed care encounter information; and expanded postoperative complication information is located within the individual chapters.

How does this affect my medical coding career?

As a medical coder, you will need to get a comprehensive overview of the significant changes in store for both diagnostic and procedural coding, along with detailed information on the impacts of the coding changes to your medical coding career. Because October 1, 2013 is the drop-dead date for compliance, all health care professionals - from medical coders to doctors - will need to be familiar with the new system. This means that you will need to enroll in an ICD-10-CM medical coding course to learn the new medical coding system, which consists of almost 55,000 more codes. While there's still a lot of time to prepare, you need to look ahead toward the upcoming changes.

The new ICD-10-CM medical coding system is an essential progression for the U.S. health care system - the current ICD-9-CM system has run out of space for new codes and limits the coding process. As a medical coder, you need to familiarize yourself with the vast new system and get the medical coding training necessary to make a smooth transition.

Heather H. Brunson is a lead marketing copywriter for Allied Medical School. Allied provides medical training programs that prepare students for careers in the medical billing, medical coding, and medical transcription fields. Online courses offer students a quick and convenient way to learn.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

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".

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

What to Expect From the New ICD-10-CM Medical Coding

With the ICD-10-CM implementation date on the horizon, there may be questions about this new medical coding system. Why is it needed? What are the changes? How will it affect my medical coding career? While you're very familiar with ICD-9-CM, you may wonder what the ICD-10-CM system is all about. Here's some helpful information:

What is ICD-9-CM? ICD-9-CM (International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition, Clinical Modifications) is a set of codes used by physicians, hospitals, and health care professionals to indicate the diagnosis for all patient visits. ICD-9-CM contains approximately 13,000 codes; these codes are mandatory for all health insurance claims in the U.S.

ICD-9 diagnosis codes consist of 3-5 numeric characters representing illnesses and conditions; alpha-numeric E codes describing external causes of injuries, poisonings, and adverse effects; and V codes describe factors influencing health status and contact with health services.

What is ICD-10-CM? ICD-10-CM is the long awaited diagnosis code revision to ICD-9-CM. This coding system contains approximately 68,000 codes. ICD-10 has been in use throughout the world for both morbidity and mortality statistics since 1994. It has been required for reporting mortality statistics in the United States since 1999.

The ICD-10-CM codes are very different from the codes included in the ICD-9-CM medical coding system. All codes for ICD-10-CM are alpha-numeric. There may be up to seven alpha-numeric characters - which will require extensive changes to billing software programs to accommodate the additional digits, as well as additional medical coding training to familiarize people with the new codes.

Why is the new ICD-10-CM coding system needed?

The ICD-9-CM system, which has been in use since 1979, has run its due course and provides the following limitations:

Limited Space - It is running out of numbers to assign for codes and in some cases, new code proposals have not been adopted because of limited space
Not Specific Enough - Its diagnosis codes do not describe the severity or complexity of the various disease conditions. This has resulted in increasing requests for additional documentation in order to support claims.
No Exchange of Information - It hinders the exchange of meaningful health care data with health care organizations and professionals around the world.

What are the benefits of adopting ICD-10-CM?

The anticipated benefits of implementing the new ICD-10 medical coding system include: expanded injury codes, grouped according to site rather than type of injury; combination of diagnosis/symptom codes; addition of sixth character with some codes extended out to the seventh character; laterality (left and right specific where applicable); V and E codes incorporated into the main classification; obstetric codes that identify trimester; addition of ambulatory and managed care encounter information; and expanded postoperative complication information is located within the individual chapters.

How does this affect my medical coding career?

As a medical coder, you will need to get a comprehensive overview of the significant changes in store for both diagnostic and procedural coding, along with detailed information on the impacts of the coding changes to your medical coding career. Because October 1, 2013 is the drop-dead date for compliance, all health care professionals - from medical coders to doctors - will need to be familiar with the new system. This means that you will need to enroll in an ICD-10-CM medical coding course to learn the new medical coding system, which consists of almost 55,000 more codes. While there's still a lot of time to prepare, you need to look ahead toward the upcoming changes.

The new ICD-10-CM medical coding system is an essential progression for the U.S. health care system - the current ICD-9-CM system has run out of space for new codes and limits the coding process. As a medical coder, you need to familiarize yourself with the vast new system and get the medical coding training necessary to make a smooth transition.

Heather H. Brunson is a lead marketing copywriter for Allied Medical School. Allied provides medical training programs that prepare students for careers in the medical billing, medical coding, and medical transcription fields. Online courses offer students a quick and convenient way to learn.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

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".

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

What to Expect From the New ICD-10-CM Medical Coding

With the ICD-10-CM implementation date on the horizon, there may be questions about this new medical coding system. Why is it needed? What are the changes? How will it affect my medical coding career? While you're very familiar with ICD-9-CM, you may wonder what the ICD-10-CM system is all about. Here's some helpful information:

What is ICD-9-CM? ICD-9-CM (International Classification of Diseases, 9th edition, Clinical Modifications) is a set of codes used by physicians, hospitals, and health care professionals to indicate the diagnosis for all patient visits. ICD-9-CM contains approximately 13,000 codes; these codes are mandatory for all health insurance claims in the U.S.

ICD-9 diagnosis codes consist of 3-5 numeric characters representing illnesses and conditions; alpha-numeric E codes describing external causes of injuries, poisonings, and adverse effects; and V codes describe factors influencing health status and contact with health services.

What is ICD-10-CM? ICD-10-CM is the long awaited diagnosis code revision to ICD-9-CM. This coding system contains approximately 68,000 codes. ICD-10 has been in use throughout the world for both morbidity and mortality statistics since 1994. It has been required for reporting mortality statistics in the United States since 1999.

The ICD-10-CM codes are very different from the codes included in the ICD-9-CM medical coding system. All codes for ICD-10-CM are alpha-numeric. There may be up to seven alpha-numeric characters - which will require extensive changes to billing software programs to accommodate the additional digits, as well as additional medical coding training to familiarize people with the new codes.

Why is the new ICD-10-CM coding system needed?

The ICD-9-CM system, which has been in use since 1979, has run its due course and provides the following limitations:

Limited Space - It is running out of numbers to assign for codes and in some cases, new code proposals have not been adopted because of limited space
Not Specific Enough - Its diagnosis codes do not describe the severity or complexity of the various disease conditions. This has resulted in increasing requests for additional documentation in order to support claims.
No Exchange of Information - It hinders the exchange of meaningful health care data with health care organizations and professionals around the world.

What are the benefits of adopting ICD-10-CM?

The anticipated benefits of implementing the new ICD-10 medical coding system include: expanded injury codes, grouped according to site rather than type of injury; combination of diagnosis/symptom codes; addition of sixth character with some codes extended out to the seventh character; laterality (left and right specific where applicable); V and E codes incorporated into the main classification; obstetric codes that identify trimester; addition of ambulatory and managed care encounter information; and expanded postoperative complication information is located within the individual chapters.

How does this affect my medical coding career?

As a medical coder, you will need to get a comprehensive overview of the significant changes in store for both diagnostic and procedural coding, along with detailed information on the impacts of the coding changes to your medical coding career. Because October 1, 2013 is the drop-dead date for compliance, all health care professionals - from medical coders to doctors - will need to be familiar with the new system. This means that you will need to enroll in an ICD-10-CM medical coding course to learn the new medical coding system, which consists of almost 55,000 more codes. While there's still a lot of time to prepare, you need to look ahead toward the upcoming changes.

The new ICD-10-CM medical coding system is an essential progression for the U.S. health care system - the current ICD-9-CM system has run out of space for new codes and limits the coding process. As a medical coder, you need to familiarize yourself with the vast new system and get the medical coding training necessary to make a smooth transition.

Heather H. Brunson is a lead marketing copywriter for Allied Medical School. Allied provides medical training programs that prepare students for careers in the medical billing, medical coding, and medical transcription fields. Online courses offer students a quick and convenient way to learn.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.