AHIMA Conference News

AHIMA Conference Enjoys ICD-10 Fruition

By Heather Hogstrom

After years of anticipation, preparation, and procrastination, ICD-10 is finally here. Naturally, ICD-10 conversion was one of the focal points of this year’s AHIMA conference. In Monday’s General Session, AHIMA President Cassi Birnbaum, MS, RHIA, FAHIMA, CPHQ, compared the multiple delays of ICD-10 to living in the movie Groundhog Day, adding that she’s had to wait 36 years to realize this vision. Illustrating the conference’s theme of “HIM Without Walls: Realizing Our Vision,” “Fight Song” played as Birnbaum walked onstage to commend the audience for fighting all barriers that came their way. AHIMA CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon, MBA, RHIA, CAE, FACHE, FAHIMA, also encouraged attendees to consider how they react to challenges, sharing an illustration in which carrots, eggs, and coffee were placed in boiling water. Despite facing the same challenge, each reacted differently: the carrots became weak, the eggs became firm, and the coffee became delicious.

Nick van Terheyden, MD, who presented “Game of Documentation: A Dance with the ICD-10 Dragon,” mentioned that so much has changed since ICD-9 was implemented 3½ decades ago that not only has the terminology and classification of conditions become outdated and obsolete but physician practices have also changed, as demonstrated by the fact that doctors could still smoke in rooms with patients. While many critics of ICD-10 have bemoaned the greatly increased number of codes, van Terheyden pointed out that while some codes were expanded, others were actually condensed. For example, he said acute myocardial infarction went from 30 codes to 14 codes. He gave recommendations for postimplementation, suggesting attendees review documentation and coding quality post October 1, provide physician education, reassess/update training for coding personnel, conduct a financial impact analysis, and support accounts receivable billing and collection backlog and activity. He warned attendees to expect audits to focus on clinical documentation to determine if it supports the specificity of ICD-10 codes.

In a session on creating confident coders, Kristen Bates, MBA, RHIA, CCS, CDIP, and Susan Belley, MEd, RHIA, CPHQ, detailed a step-by-step plan for promoting ICD-10 accuracy. They started with ICD-10 education and practiced double coding, followed by dual coding. Afterward, inpatient coders still weren’t confident despite previous training activities, so classroom training on ICD-10-PCS provided staff with a two-hour session of lecture and lab time one day per week, which the coders loved. After these steps, the coders felt ready for go-live, but not all AHIMA attendees felt the same. An audience poll showed that about one-half of the attendees felt confident about ICD-10.

— Heather Hogstrom is an editorial assistant at For The Record.