The results of the second ICD-10 readiness survey for users of the state’s NC Tracks Medicaid claims system, shows a slight improvement in the number of providers prepared for the transition to ICD-10 on Oct. 1, but still not the number who need to be ready for the changeover. The NC Department of Health and Human Services Director of the Division of Medical Assistance, Robin Gary Cummings, MD, described the results as “concerning.”
Of the 727 providers who replied to the question ‘how complete is your implementation of ICD-10 for your organization,’ 218 or 30 percent had not yet started to implement the new codes. The majority of respondents (467) were somewhere between 1 and 99 percent complete. For 42 respondents the implementation was complete.
For those who had not begun or completed the implementation, the most commonly given reasons were other priorities or competing interests as well as lack of staffing/resources. Nearly 62 percent of those taking the survey felt confident they would be ready come Oct. 1, while 35 percent were not sure. View all the results.
NC Tracks will be running another survey on May 20 to assess how prepared providers will be on Oct. 1. In the meantime, NC Tracks staff is standing by to answer questions at [email protected]. You also may find your ICD-10 codes on the NCTracks ICD-10 Crosswalk at http://ncmmis.ncdhhs.gov/icdxwalk.asp. Here are some frequently asked questions submitted over the past few weeks:
Q: What is the soonest you will accept a claim with an ICD-10 code on it?
A: The federal government has mandated that October 1 is the earliest we can accept a claim with ICD-10 codes.
Q: If a date of service is prior to October 1, but the claim is not submitted until after October 1, which ICD codes should be used?
A: The codes to use will be based on date of service, no matter when you submit the claim. So if the date of service occurred before October 1, but you’re submitting the claim after October 1, you will use ICD-9 codes.
Q: Can claims with ICD-9 codes and claims with ICD-10 codes be submitted in the same batch?
A: Yes. Claims for dates of service prior to October 1 (using ICD-9 codes) and claims for dates of service on or after October 1 (using ICD-10 codes) can be submitted in the same batch. However, ICD-9 codes and ICD-10 codes cannot be used on the same claim.
Q: This crosswalk does not locate any of my codes. I tried searching common codes such as 401.9, 250.02, 250.00, 789.00.
A: Those codes are on the crosswalk, but as the directions state, you have to remove the decimal point. For example, enter ICD-9 code 707.10 as 70710. Once you do that, you will find the corresponding ICD-10 code.