CMS Announces Preparing for ICD-10 Implementation Call

Yesterday, CMS announced the next conference call in their series on ICD-10:  Preparing for ICD-10 Implementation in 2011.  The call will take place on Wednesday, January 12, 2011.  According to CMS, subject matter experts will review  information on the transition to ICD-10 and discuss implementation planning and preparation strategies for the current year   As with all of the industry calls, a question and answer period follows the presentation.

You must register no later than 1:00pm Eastern Time on January 11, 2011: Register For ICD-10 Implementation Call


Presentation materials for the January 12 call will be available Here in the downloads section no later than 24 hours before the call.  You can also find information on the site regarding CEUs. Both AHIMA and AAPC members will earn 1 CEU for participation in the call.


According to the announcement, the agenda will be:

·         Planning for transition to ICD-10 –A call to action

·         Implementation for services provided on and after October 1, 2013—No grace periods or delays

·         Date of service implementation requirements

·         Tools for converting codes – 2011 General Equivalence Mappings (GEMs)

·         Partial freeze of ICD-9-CM and ICD-10 code updates, except for new technologies and diseases

·         Use of unspecified codes in both ICD-9-CM and ICD-10

·         Updating payment and coverage policies for ICD-10

·         Differences between ICD-9-CM and ICD-10

·         Internal planning groups and organizational strategies

·         Awareness, educational strategies and assessing training needs

·         Implementation plan development and impact assessment

·         Determining vendor readiness

·         Coding gap analysis—What needs to be done for your coding staff

·         Assessing quality of medical record documentation

·         Developing an ICD-10 budget

·         Consequences of poor preparation

Just a reminder--If you are unable to participate in the call, all of the CMS ICD-10 conference materials (slides, call MP3s, call transcripts) are posted on HCC University in the Tools section as soon as they become available.