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November 5, 2015

ICD 10: We did it!

October 1st of 2015 was the deadline for all health organizations to meet the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10. Health centers and health organizations around the nation trained their staff to use ICD-10.

ICD-10 is the 10th iteration of the international classification for diseases. It is how health organizations identify and code different diseases, disease states, and clinical conditions for our patients. Close to 25 countries use ICD10 for reimbursement and resource allocation in their health care systems. ICD-9 was adopted in 1979 and has not been updated significantly since. There were many limitations with using ICD-9, including not having the ability to define the complexity of specific diseases, limited space, and using a system that other countries, and even many parts of the U.S., have ceased to use it in their health care system [i].

Mission Neighborhood Health Center hired Project Manager, Robert Baldwin to help us during the transition. Robert previously received his MBA from Western Governors University, Salt Lake City and worked at DaVita Health Care before coming to MNHC. He has worked diligently to train and transition the health center’s four clinics to ICD-10. He worked closely with MNHC’s Chief Operating officer, IT and billing to ensure a smooth transition within MNHC’s clinics.

“We have gone from having 17,000 codes to 140,000 in ICD-10. We’ll see an increasing granularity in data that we are tracking. For example we have simple reports about asthma encounters, the new code set will help us track progression of disease, cause of disease, and really quantifies multiple facets of any given medical condition”, said Robert.

Our providers and clinical staff have received detailed training to prepare them for this transition. “Mission Neighborhood has some very talented and passionate individuals”. ICD-10 will provide our clinical staff the tools necessary to advance data collection and continue to achieve clinical excellence.

[i]http://library.ahima.org/xpedio/groups/public/documents/ahima/bok3_005426.hcsp?dDocName=bok3_005426

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