How Medical Billers and Coders Help Physicians Accurately Assess Vendors for ICD-10 Implementation?
Healthcare practitioners cannot underestimate the importance of vendors, as vendors are key partners who can assist in ICD-10 transition. The products and services currently used will become obsolete soon and physicians need to start planning and getting ready for this change.
To ensure future and timely reimbursements it is highly vital for physicians to start the process now and communicate regularly with vendors about ICD-10 suitable practice management systems, co-ordinate on training staff on system changes and allow time for testing. Coding professionals are an essential link between the two, helping erase disconnection and promoting a profitable relationship.
Assessing the Vendors?
Providers first need to comprehend the importance of their vendor’s role in ICD-10; and medical billers and coders can help assist them assess vendors capabilities. With updated knowledge on ICD-10; you will be able to help providers -
- Ascertain if current vendor contracts are in line with the practice's ICD-10-related needs
- Vendors timeline for the ICD-10 transition are practical
- Vendors current products and applications are updated for ICD-10
- Vendor installation date for ICD-10 products allows for appropriate testing time
- Vendor’s training to staff on the ICD-10 system updates is possible
- Ascertain the type of search for codes the vendor products allows (ICD-10 alphabetic tabular indexes or clinical concept)
- Product allows for coding in both ICD-9 and ICD-10
Assess Existing Vendors
Medical Coders can help physicians map a crosswalk strategy with existing vendors between ICD-9 and ICD- 10 code sets, help understand which products need to be discontinued, new hardware requirements and software changes needed, type of training needed for the updated products and if there is a stage wise approach for implementing ICD-10.
Assess New Vendors
In this case Medical Coders will be instrumental in helping physicians communicate and decipher if the new product will simplify transition to ICD-10, comparison of new functionality with current system, cost of new system is beneficial , understanding maintenance requirements and help study product quality guarantees in context with coding requirements.
How Medical Coders help improve communication with Vendors?
Medical billers and coders job does not stop at helping physicians assess vendors capabilities, in order to ensure smooth ICD-10 transition medical billers and coders play an intrinsic role in helping both vendors and physicians communicate effectively at every step of the provider- vendor association -
- Setting up-Help make goals, study vendor reports and also study previous strategies used successfully by the vendor while planning the transition
- Execution and testing - Offer guidance to physicians during – updating, testing and reporting internal processes with vendor, installation of new software, testing vendor system with payers and other business trading partners
- Resolve issues- Help physicians identify their correct role with the vendor while communicating to vendor to resolve any testing failures
One of the primary reasons why providers and vendors may not achieve synchronization is the lack of effective communication. Medical coders, with knowledge on ICD-10, can make use of this opportunity to synchronize providers’ coding with vendors interpretation.
Medicalbillersandcoders.com-identified as one of the best of medical billing and coding services across the 50 states in the US –is equipped with an expert team of qualified and competent medical billers and coders known to have brought providers, vendors and payers on the same wave-length. While our clients communicate with vendors to find out how ICD-10 will affect their billing processes and their contracts, our experts assist them by offering ICD-10 expertise that allows providers converse effectively with vendors and know where they stand as against the requisite benchmark.
Additionally MBC has initiated a unique training and orientation program for all the entities impacted by ICD-10 aiming to create an ICD-10 learning and collaborative-partnership amongst providers, payers, and vendors.