ICD-10 may be only six months old in the United States, but new codes have already been proposed for October 1, 2016.
Previously, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had placed a five-year code freeze on ICD-10 to help ease the healthcare industry into the new code set. Well, that ended in late March.
The CDC announced proposed, new ICD-10-CM codes, while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced proposed, new ICD-10-PCS codes. In total, approximately 1,943 new ICD-10-CM codes were announced along with 3,651 new ICD-10-PCS codes.
For practices still learning ICD-10, the addition of more 5,500 codes can be overwhelming. So, it's important to remember a few things.
- There's still time - Yes, these new codes have been announced, but they won't be officially released until Oct. 1, 2016 when the first ICD-10 update is made here in the United States. Additionally, don't forget about CMS' grace period that is in effect until October 1 as well. As long as ICD-10 codes are billed from the correct family, CMS won't deny payment. Yes, practices will need to be more specific come October 1, but there's still more than five months to enhance your ICD-10 coding knowledge.
- You can practice learning the new codes right now - Not only did CDC and CMS announce these codes earlier than expected, but the two organizations have made them available for the public to view while they go through a public review period. This should be a relief to practices who are trying to balance learning both ICD-10 and the thousands of new codes. To view the proposed ICD-10-CM codes, click here. To view the proposed ICD-10-PCS codes, click here.
- Make sure you have the best solution for ICD-10 - ICD-10 is live right now, but that doesn't mean your practice has to be stuck using the same solution. Nextech's intuitive coding assistance solution will make ICD-10 easy for your practice. If your practice is unhappy with how its current system is coding ICD-10, don't waste these next five months before the grace period ends. Simplify coding compliance and ensure your practice doesn't lose revenue once Oct. 1, 2016 rolls around.
RELATED: CMS Announces First ICD-10 Update
The ICD-10 update also includes revisions and deletions. For the proposed ICD-10-PCS update, 351 codes were revised and 313 were deleted. In ICD-10-CM, 422 codes were revised and 305 were deleted.