ICD-10 changes are coming! Stay in the know

After one year acclimating to the paradigm shift in medical billing and coding that is ICD-10, doctors should be aware of significant changes scheduled to take effect Oct. 1, 2016, and the AOA resources available to ensure this smooth transition.

Although the ICD-10 compliance deadline was Oct. 1, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) granted doctors a one-year adjustment period to permit mistakenly coded claims as long as they were a valid code in the correct ICD-10 code family. This leeway ends Oct. 1, 2016, at which point doctors must use correct ICD-10 codes.

Additionally, hundreds of new ICD-10 diagnosis codes that directly impact optometry will take effect Oct. 1, 2016, and an upcoming webinar will provide doctors the pertinent information to avoid denials. Here is AOA resource to help us:
 

Use AOA resources to prepare for changes to ICD-10 codes
A backlog of thousands of new ICD-10 codes-including about 750 changes that expand and refine diagnosis codes related to optometry-will go into effect on Oct. 1. Altogether, there are more than 5,500 new codes: 3,651 hospital inpatient procedure codes (ICD-10-PCS) and 1,900 diagnosis codes (ICD-10-CM) have been added by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).