While some HIM professionals may feel a sense of relief knowing RAC audits are on hold for the remainder of 2015, that should not deter workforce members from keeping track of denials and appeals and defending code assignments.
As the industry approaches ICD-10 implementation, end-to-end testing becomes more critical. Testing allows organizations to determine the efficacy of their preparations. It also answers critical questions for ICD-10 stakeholders: Can applications accommodate ICD-10 codes correctly? Does data flow seamlessly between internal and external interfaces? Are payers able to receive, adjudicate, and pay claims correctly?
In the first article in this series, we provided an introduction and overview of the PSI 90 measure, which is included in two CMS pay-for-performance programs. Because PSI 90 is a claims-based measure, performance is largely determined by ICD-9-CM codes on the claims.
Finding themselves at the center of a tumultuous, dynamic healthcare environment, physicians are becoming increasingly frustrated and anxious, frequently questioning their career choice. Preparation to be a lifelong healthcare provider inadequately prepares clinicians for the emerging value-based healthcare world to which they are being subjected. Physicians believe that they have little control over or input into the metrics that are rapidly determining their fates with healthcare organizations, third-party payers, and inevitably patients themselves.
