by Colleen Agee
Former Medical Coder | Elsevier Account Representative, Career Sales
Today's professional coders work with approximately 17,000 codes in the ICD-9-CM code set. After the transition to ICD-10, they'll be working with more than 155,000 codes. With the coding community nervous about the changes, many companies are delaying ICD-10 training for their staff until the 2013 implementation date draws closer. This is your chance to get ahead.
Here are some steps you can take to leverage your understanding of ICD-10 in your job search and early coding career:
- Identify initial ICD-10 training on your résumé. Employers receive many résumés for every open position. While many applicants may have years of professional experience or coding certification, very few are trained on how to code with ICD-10 -- especially in smaller medical offices. This will make your résumé stand out from the rest.
- Mention your ICD-10 experience in your job interview. When discussing your skills, highlight your understanding of ICD-10. This will demonstrate your value to potential employers both as an experienced coder and a source of information for other coders on staff.
- Share your knowledge. Once you're hired, share what you know about ICD-10 with other employees. You'll stand out as a leader among the coders on staff, which will benefit you when your boss is conducting reviews or considering promotions.
- Stay up to date. Show employers your motivation and dedication by following ICD-10 information as it becomes available. You can find ICD-10 updates here and at these other sites:
Elsevier's core coding resources already include ICD-10 coverage so you can start your preparation now. Learn more.
The coding experts are saying that the cross over
ReplyDeletefrom ICD-9 to ICD-10 is not the best way to go.
The other comment that was made was to use the ICD-10 guidelines as a teaching guide line for students and to start this in 2012.
The fears are that all will not be ready for the 10/1/2013 deadline and systems will not be able to handle both the ICD-9 and ICD-10.
I have heard some of the payers are saying that they may not be ready. All the providers and payers are worried if their systems will be able to handle both the ICD-9 and ICD-10. ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes will be needed in the system due to the fact any claims prior to 10/1/2013 will need to be coded with ICD-9.
Vollume III will have major changes and this might cause problems also.
Testing is reccomended at the end of 2012 for electronic claims. The process of talking to your
billing systems vendor should all ready be happening to make sure you are ready.
The clearing houses will have even a bigger problem, they may have to be the gap for payers and providers.