The North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) and other national and local health care groups are working together to help doctors prepare for the October implementation of the new ICD-10 codes.
NCMS members may contact Franklin Walker, Director of Programs and Practice Managment at the NCMS Foundation, for training resources on ICD-10. NCMS is working with other local and national groups to offer educational options as well.
Below is a listing of what is available between now and October.
The North Carolina component of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) offers specialty specific ICD-10 training. Learn what e-learning options are available at their website.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) also is gearing up for the changeover.
To help make sure you’re prepared, CMS has released a new MLN Connects™ video on ICD-10 Coding Basics. Sue Bowman from AHIMA provides a basic introduction to ICD-10 coding, including:
- Similarities to and differences from ICD-9
- ICD-10 code structure
- Coding process and examples
- 7th Character
- Placeholder “x”
- Excludes notes
- Unspecified codes
- External cause codes
CMS also offers a CMS ICD-10 website with the latest news and resources to help prepare for the deadline. Sign up for CMS ICD-10 Industry Email Updates. CMS is getting geared up for the changeover and recently announced that they will be doing full, end-to-end testing this summer for Medicare. Read more about this testing here.
Local offerings in North Carolina include:
The Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) throughout the state in conjunction with NCHIMA also will be offering classes leading up to the implementation of ICD-10. The ICD-10-CM training sessions will have a small part on the foundation for understanding the structure of an ICD-10-CM. The rest of the course will focus on how to code using ICD-10-CM, covering the ICD-10-CM coding guidelines. Emphasis will also be directed to codes that require expanded clinical documentation to code to the highest level of specificity.
Dates for 2014 training are:
- Northwest AHEC (Hickory) – March 14
- Area L AHEC (Rocky Mount) – May 9
- Charlotte AHEC – May 13, June 19 and August 26
- Eastern AHEC (Greenville) – June 6
- SEAHEC (Wilmington) – June 24
- Wake AHEC (Raleigh) – August 12
- Greensboro & Northwest AHEC (Moses Cone) – August 22
Mountain AHEC is offering ICD-10 training in March and April 2014.
- March 6, 2014: ICD-10-CM Overview for Physicians and Mid-Level Providers (2-hour evening class).
- April 14-16, 2014: ICD-10 Certified Professional Coding Workshop- AAPC Exam Prep (3 days for coders).
- April 17 & 18, 2014: Specialty practice ICD-10 Coding: Family Medicine/Internal Medicine; Family Medicine/Pediatrics; OB/GYN Three 4-hour sessions for physicians, mid-levels, coders, billing specialists.
Access free educational resources from the AMA for practical insight into the preparation process, or visit the AMA Store for additional training opportunities and products.
While no delay in implementation of ICD-10 is envisioned at this point, the AMA, with the support of the NCMS, has been lobbying hard to postpone the new system.