Just over 5 percent of doctors accepting Medicaid patients in North Carolina say they will NOT be ready for ICD-10 when it launches on October 1, according to the latest survey by NCTracks, the state’s Medicaid claims system. The Department of Health and Human Services calls this “potentially concerning.” Regardless of payer – Medicaid, Medicare or private payers – are you and your office staff ready to start using ICD-10 codes come Oct. 1?
All payers – public and private – have many resources available to help you gear up and make the transition. Click on the links below for more information on what’s available.
NCTracks Coding Help
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ICD-10 resources
The Physicians Foundation also is promoting free software to help make the transition. ICD10Charts.com  was developed by a medical student, Parth Desai, who saw the need for such a resource while working in his father’s medical practice.
If you learn better with a live instructor, NCTracks now is enrolling for September classes – the August sessions are full.
The training course, “ICD 10 System Changes,” is taught via remote WebEx, so you can attend from any location with a telephone, computer and Internet connection. Each session is limited to 115 participants, so register NOW on Skillport. Following are the dates and times the class is offered:

  • Thursday, September 3 – 9 to 9:45 a.m.
  • Tuesday, September 8 – 3 to 3:45 p.m.
  • Friday, September 18 – 10. to 10:45 a.m.
  • Monday, September 21 – 3 to 3:45 p.m.

For those not able to attend the live instructor-led course, a recorded session is available. It is titled GEN 102 ICD System Changes_Providers and can be found in Skillport in the General Folder under the heading CBTs.
And don’t forget the national Medicare Learning Network (MLN) Connects Provider Call: Countdown to ICD-10, Thursday, Aug. 27, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. to register, visit MLN Connects Event Registration. Space may be limited, register early.
Finally, back in early July , CMS and the AMA released a joint statement about their efforts to help the provider community get ready for ICD-10. This statement included guidance from CMS that allows for flexibility in the claims auditing and quality reporting processes. In response to questions from the health care community, CMS has released “Clarifying Questions and Answers Related to the July 6, 2015 CMS/AMA Joint Announcement and Guidance Regarding ICD-10 Flexibilities,” which provides answers to the most commonly asked questions about exactly what this ‘flexibility’ means to you and your practice.