The Importance Of Establishing Dual ICD-9 And ICD-10 Capability
The medical care industry relies on a set of codes referred to as the International Classification of Diseases, also referred to as ICD. There are numerous revisions of this code, most recently ICD-9 and ICD-10. As doctors record patient diagnosis information in records and medical billing professionals use those codes for invoice and record-keeping purposes, it is important to stay on top of the updates and changes to these codes. For example, when ICD-10 was released as an update, most medical offices and medical billing facilities found that they needed to establish dual ICD-9 and ICD-10 capability.
The ICD-9 codes were the standard until the newest updates were released. The alphanumeric codes appear within the patient record and then are transmitted into the patient's billing records. Any codes that are changed or added between the ICD-9 system and the recent update must be changed. If your doctor is still making transitions, you need to work toward having dual ICD-9 and ICD-10 capability. This will permit medical billing professionals to continue recording patient details under the old system for patients who were seen before the changes took place, and then use the new codes for those seen after the update was published.
