Each new CMS fiscal year, MS-DRG weight and classification changes in the CMS IPPS final rule are closely scrutinized by the coders and clinical documentation improvement (CDI) specialists on the CDI team to identify any potential impact on documentation capture and code assignment processes.
After several delays, ICD-10 implementation is finally upon us. The healthcare industry has spent years planning, training, and testing?and now the moment we have all been waiting for has arrived. But don't breathe a sigh of relief just yet.
If your organization is like many others, you've probably still got some lingering questions about how to comply with the 2-midnight rule. During a recent HCPro webcast "Medical Necessity Documentation and Short Stays," Steven Greenspan, JD, LLM, vice president of regulatory affairs at Executive Health Resources in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, and Kurt Hopfensperger, MD, JD, vice president of compliance and physician education for Executive Health Resources, tried to shed some light on areas of confusion.
Providers know the drill for addressing and operationalizing CMS' annual IPPS and OPPS updates, along with the usual ICD-9-CM and CPT® coding changes. The industry has become used to CMS' timetable for releasing inpatient and outpatient proposed and final rules and knows that it has to be ready to go live with coding, billing, and operational changes October 1 and January 1, respectively.
After several delays, ICD-10 implementation is finally upon us. The healthcare industry has spent years planning, training, and testing?and now the moment we have all been waiting for has arrived. But don't breathe a sigh of relief just yet.
