In response to my previous EMR and ICD-10 posts, an EMR vendor recently sent me how they plan to address the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10. Here’s their plan:
1. We are going to have both the ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes reside in the same file in our application. This will allow the charge entry people to enter either code. There will be a field in the ICD-9 that will map to a single ICD-10.
2. We will provide a report to each doctor showing them the frequency of the ICD-9 codes they used over a period of time that they can specify. This report will show the available ICD-10 codes. The doctor can study it, start to change, or ignore it.
3. The staff can opt to let the software map one ICD-10 to the ICD-9 or manually enter the code of their choice.
4. Our electronic claims software will have a flag per insurance carrier indicating whether or not it will accept ICD-10. For those that will, we will map the ICD-9 to the 10 and send that code. If no map identified, we will generate an error edit.
5. At some point down the road, we will use the information collected from billing to update the doctor’s preferred list of dx codes in the EMR.
6. We will have to augment customized programs at each client site that may be doing reports based on ICD-9.
I don’t really understand how this approach can work given that there is not a one-to-one relationship between ICD-9 and ICD-10. This CMS document explains the problem: https://www.cms.gov/ICD10/Downloads/GEMs-CrosswalksBasicFAQ.pdf
Seth,
Read it again. I think that the process takes into account the possibility of multiple ICD-10 for one ICD-9. It’s just that they “can” map them 1 to 1 if they see fit to do so.
John,
You posted in August 2010, how is this EMR vendor doing today? Who is the vendor?
Giselle
Hi Giselle,
Good question. I haven’t talked to this EMR vendor in a while. Their EMR is called RedPlanet: http://arcsysmed.com/realsolutions2.php
I’m going to be visiting the city where they’re from in a couple weeks. I’ll see if I can meet him some time.
[…] This may not be their fault. According to WEDI, 20 percent of vendors surveyed said they were halfway there or less developing products to support ICD-10. Even worse, 40 percent indicated they wouldn’t even have a finished product available until sometime in mid-2014, a situation which could create enormous problems for providers. (Wondering vendors are addressing the changeover? Here’s how one vendor has been handling the problem.) […]