By Ken Bradley, VP Stategic Planning & Regulatory Compliance,
Founding Member of Navicure
Twitter: @Navicure
School buses are chugging through suburban neighborhoods. The early morning holds a taste of cool crispness. Department stores are displaying coats and sweaters. Yes, fall is in the air. And you know what else is in the air? Annual budgeting.
With the ICD-10 deadline almost exactly a year away, it’s a great time to make sure your 2015 budget can support a comprehensive, multi-faceted transition plan. When budgeting, consider all the necessary steps to set up your practice for success. A recent Health Data Management blog post, “ICD-10 Budgets for 2015 – Four Key Components,” stresses the importance of allocating funds to these areas:
IT Resources – An ICD-10 financial impact analysis can help you identify how improved coding and documentation will benefit your bottom line, and it can help ensure you don’t miss any important IT considerations. For instance, besides the typical costs such as system upgrades, you may want to include things like computer-assisted coding (CAC).
Consulting – A readiness assessment and gap analysis can help you set priorities and develop the optimal project plan. If you already have a plan, consider whether your practice would benefit from project management during critical phases such as testing and go-live.
Training – Make sure your budget allows for training in coding, documentation and billing. Training should be in-depth, allowing your team to gain confidence troubleshooting and remediating issues they’ll encounter during the ICD-10 transition.
Staffing – A retention plan, especially for coders, can help ensure you don’t lose staff after making significant investments in their ICD-10 knowledge. Also, be sure to forecast appropriately for the billing resources necessary to “wind down” ICD-9 receivables while ramping up for ICD-10.
The transition to ICD-10 has many moving parts, so be sure your budget supports a successful plan. In no time, you’ll be feeling the crisp fall air of 2015, so start getting ready now!
About the Author: Ken Bradley is the vice president of strategic planning and regulatory compliance and one of Navicure‘s founding members. Ken has more than 18 years of experience in the healthcare industry, specializing in the development of practice management software (PMS), and the design and development of systems and applications utilized to process healthcare data. This article was originally published on ICD-10 Hub Blog and is republished here with permission.