Information and point-of-care solutions provider Wolters Kluwer Health, US, has called upon healthcare organisations to view deferment of the ICD-10 implementation as an opportunity to refine plans to further minimise post-transition impacts and maximise quality and financial outcomes. In particular, the delay provides more time for clients to expand current strategies and further leverage its Health Language® and ProVation® Medical solutions to build a solid foundation for long-term clinical, financial and operational success under the expansive new code set.
Authorised on April 1 as part of broader Sustainable Growth Rate legislation, the ICD-10 implementation deadline was pushed back to at least October 2015. While the delay was met with relief by organisations that were struggling to comply with multiple concurrent regulatory mandates, even those that were on track to meet the original ICD-10 deadline can leverage the additional time to refine plans to minimise anticipated impacts on productivity and reimbursements to more fully realize cost and quality improvements.
To ensure ICD-10 readiness, healthcare organisations are encouraged to leverage Health Language solutions and expertise to support the key aspects of transition planning. The planning includes protecting the revenue cycle; ensuring a clinically complete translation; preparing for post-ICD-10 updates; and optimising clinical workflow.
Finally, healthcare organisations are encouraged to automate documentation and coding by implementing a structured reporting solution such as ProVation® MD, which has been enabled for ICD-10 for more than a year. ProVation MD captures the granularity required under ICD-10 by guiding physicians to document at the appropriate level of specificity. The proper CPT® and ICD-10 diagnosis codes are then automatically applied, producing clinically-appropriate, coder-ready procedure notes at the point of care.
