Understanding ICD-10 Codes and Why They’re Important
Understanding ICD-10 Medical Codes and Why They’re Important
ICD-10 stands for International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision. Many people shorten that to International Classification of Diseases. The World Health Organization copyright, publish, and update these medical codes periodically.
YES HIM Education regularly updates the catalog of medical coding training to include the latest ICD-10 coding updates. Contact YES to develop a customized education training program for your coding team.
What Exactly are ICD-10 Medical Codes?
ICD-10 codes are alphanumeric codes used by doctors, healthcare consulting firms, and public health agencies all over the globe to represent different diagnoses. Every disease, injury, and symptom has its own ICD-10 code. ICD-10 codes process health insurance claims, track disease epidemics, and compile worldwide mortality statistics (searchhealthit.com). All Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (or HIPAA) covered organizations must comply with ICD-10 codes, as instructed by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services.
Why are ICD-10 Codes Important?
Healthcare providers and healthcare consultants dealing with ICD-10 codes have a better understanding of their patient populations and the conditions that affect them. Not only can providers make more informed treatment decisions, they also have better information for patients’ health information management. On the other end of the spectrum, medical coders reading medical records determine the diagnoses from those records, and translate the diagnoses into ICD-10 codes. Once the coder codes the medical record, the data is sent to the coinciding health insurance company for processing.
Main Benefits of ICD-10 Medical Codes
- Improving the accuracy of diagnosis codes
- Offering updated medical terminology and disease classifications
- Supporting reimbursement models that pay doctors more for complex issues
- Providing better data for the study of diseases and their patterns
- Improving payment efficiency and preventing errors
- Refining the overall efficiency of the healthcare industry
CMS has already provided ICD-10 Procedure Coding System updates for the fiscal year 2020, beginning Oct. 1, 2019 and ending Sept. 30, 2020. Be sure to check out our Education Website to access the ICD-10 10-1-19 Updates for FY2020 and stay ahead of the curve!
