The Fear Of Moving To ICD-10

By Benny Lionston


Many people today think that they have no power when it comes to medical billing. In fact, the power is there when it comes to overcoming new terms. There is a new beginning when people see that it's not working correctly. Many people that are in the medical billing industry are finding that going back to school matters the most. Learning the new ICD-10 takes time, discipline and careful training. Many medical billing companies are unique in the sense that they are doing coding correctly. They have been preparing for ICD-10 for over 2 years many times. Many companies in New York and New Jersey are hurting because there are not enough coders around to fulfill all of the jobs.

Coding today is a lot more complex. The new ICD-10 got released on October 1, 2015. To everyone's surprise, there is much more that you must learn. You need to learn 5 times as many codes than you did before. Under ICD-9, there were around 14,000 codes and now there are over 69,000. That is a lot of information to learn quickly. It will take years to master the new codes.

Many blood labs are finding out that they must bill correctly. They can't just give people random blood tests whenever they feel like it. In the past, blood labs would often test a person twice in the same week for drug addiction. However, today, this may not be so easy. Many insurance companies are asking you to explain in detail why your client needs more than 1 blood test in a given week. Some people think that it's up to the doctor. However, this is not the case with the new ICD-10. The new codes give insurance companies more power. They can decide what they will pay you on.

The codes are often longer now and it requires the doctors to buy new software. They must spend money on new software and paying skilled ICD-10 coders higher salaries. Sure, you can stay with your old ICD-9 coders, but they are not going to get you the money that you need to stay in business. Doctors are often seeing the need to outsource their work to professional medical billing companies. However, who can you trust and what can you do in order to see that your medical practice doesn't fall apart. This is a big question that a lot of people are asking themselves.

It is not easy to depend on you in house staff to do your medical billing anymore. In fact, more doctors today are outsourcing their work to professional billing companies that promise higher returns on investment. It is not easy to see people struggling every day. As each day passes, people wonder what the end is going to be. Will doctors continue to close their practices and work for hospitals? This is something that a lot of patients are asking themselves. Some doctors are refusing medical insurance all together and instead are asking their patients to pay in cash. Has insurance failed the medical system and is there anything that we can do about it?




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