LAS VEGAS — Much like “Edgar Allen Poe’s Tell-tale Heart,” ICD-10 beats somewhere under the figurative floor – if only perceptibly enough that healthcare professionals cannot escape the looming deadline.
Little doubt exists that 2012 will be the pivotal year. What with barely 18 months until the compliance deadline, the defining question persists: Is your organization ready?
Coding and coders have garnered much of the ICD-10 ruminations thus far, but there is more to consider for the massive conversion. While jokes about codes for “bizarre personal appearance,” and “very low level of personal hygiene” may be whispered in quiet corners and after show hours, HIMSS12 attendees should expect to learn about ICD-10′s more serious side – beginning with timing and comprehensive planning.
“Do not delay… Do not ignore it,” advised Juliet Santos, senior director of HIMSS business-centered systems. “Ignoring it will not make it go away. Identify whether or not you have the capabilities to do it and if not, where can you access those resources?”
One such place is at the ICD-10 Symposium (http://www.himssconference.org/education/SympICD10.aspx), which opens 8 a.m. on Monday in the Titian 2204 room of the Venetian Sands Expo Convention Center. The day-long symposium will dive deep into ICD-10 aspects including training timelines, expectations and realities of implementation, risks and mitigation, myths and realities for payers, documentation improvement, and optimizing vendor relationships. The ICD-10 Symposium is commercially supported by Jvion and Precyse.
ICD-10 will also show its face over at the Summit for Healthcare Information and Financial Technology (http://www.himssconference.org/SHIFT/default.aspx) with a session on Tuesday at 2:30 titled “Revenue Impact of ICD-10 and Best Practice Solutions” in the Casanova 502 room, also at the Venetian. Presenter Tim Reiner, CFO of Adventist Health System, will share his take on the top 5 pressure points of ICD-10 that promise to impact reimbursement, isolating key benchmarks both pre- and post-implementation, and a look at what CFOs and revenue cycle staff need to know for ICD-10 project planning.
ICD-10 as a topic is not entirely new to HIMSS annual conferences, but Knowledge Centers are. And among the half-dozen “one-stop experience” Knowledge Centers is booth 14512 in Hall G, wherein attendees can learn about successfully navigating from ICD-9 to ICD-10 in education sessions on timelines, process, roles and responsibilities, pitfalls, assessments, and training.
Expect ICD-10 to be front and center at HIMSS12, if only because of the clock-ticking under the floors of so many healthcare IT professionals.
“Start ICD-10 preparations immediately,” HIMSS Santos offered. “Get ready, implement risk mitigation strategies, test, remediate, test again, and communicate with your payers.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock…