Here in the US, October 1 marks the beginning of the apocalypse....I mean the ICD 10 coding system. This will determine whether or not your healthcare services will be paid for by insurance and/or Medicare. And it is ludicrously specific. They tried to make up a code for everything they could think of and then a few hundred more. I'm pretty sure there are codes for alien abductions--for initial and subsequent encounters.
Needless to say, this has the medical community in a tailspin. The Way Things Have Been Done is no longer good enough. Which in some respects is true, in others it's not. I know at my place of employment we had a system wide learning module on ICD 10 over a year ago. Today it's suddenly a big deal and OMG we have to make all these changes right farking NAO! Our patient history paperwork under review to see if it's ICD 10 compatible. And apparently I've been doing it wrong this entire time. Thanks for letting me know after 5.5 years, guys.
So in order to ease the transition for everyone, here's what we need from you the patient:
--Know when your problem started. We can't use "for awhile now" and "my entire life" anymore. We need specifics. Dates. If you don't know exactly, make something up and stick with it. If you need to, bring a POA or other caregiver to help you remember details.
--If you're here for some kind of pain, be able to pinpoint where it hurts. "Chest pain" isn't enough anymore. "Substernal chest pain" or "Left side chest pain radiating to left arm" is.
--Your doctor's office is going to screw up. Be vigilant and stay on them to get everything right. Be familiar with your insurance policy. If you know something should be covered and all of a sudden it isn't, it might be a coding problem.
--For the love of all that is holy, know why you're here. I can't begin to tell you how often I've asked why such and such exam was ordered only to be met with a derp stare and "Derrr I dunno." You don't have to have gone to med school to know the answer to "Why are you here?" WTF did you go to your doctor for in the first place?
--Be prepared to answer a lot of seemingly stupid questions. If you stubbed your toe on the coffee table when you were 6, we probably need to note it.
And doctors: y'all might wanna brush up on your indications and appropriate use criteria, m'k? You wanna check a gallbladder's function, but the patient isn't experiencing any pain, nausea, vomiting, or bowel issues, it's not going to get covered and you don't get paid. No more lung scans on patients who have no chest pain, shortness of breath, or abnormal bloodwork. Your inability to give me an appropriate diagnosis and tell me why I should do a test affects my paycheck too. Exams that aren't covered and paid by insurance affect our reimbursement, which affects how much payroll we have, which affects our staffing levels and who gets to work that day.
I'm gonna need a lot of chocolate in the coming weeks.
Needless to say, this has the medical community in a tailspin. The Way Things Have Been Done is no longer good enough. Which in some respects is true, in others it's not. I know at my place of employment we had a system wide learning module on ICD 10 over a year ago. Today it's suddenly a big deal and OMG we have to make all these changes right farking NAO! Our patient history paperwork under review to see if it's ICD 10 compatible. And apparently I've been doing it wrong this entire time. Thanks for letting me know after 5.5 years, guys.
So in order to ease the transition for everyone, here's what we need from you the patient:
--Know when your problem started. We can't use "for awhile now" and "my entire life" anymore. We need specifics. Dates. If you don't know exactly, make something up and stick with it. If you need to, bring a POA or other caregiver to help you remember details.
--If you're here for some kind of pain, be able to pinpoint where it hurts. "Chest pain" isn't enough anymore. "Substernal chest pain" or "Left side chest pain radiating to left arm" is.
--Your doctor's office is going to screw up. Be vigilant and stay on them to get everything right. Be familiar with your insurance policy. If you know something should be covered and all of a sudden it isn't, it might be a coding problem.
--For the love of all that is holy, know why you're here. I can't begin to tell you how often I've asked why such and such exam was ordered only to be met with a derp stare and "Derrr I dunno." You don't have to have gone to med school to know the answer to "Why are you here?" WTF did you go to your doctor for in the first place?
--Be prepared to answer a lot of seemingly stupid questions. If you stubbed your toe on the coffee table when you were 6, we probably need to note it.
And doctors: y'all might wanna brush up on your indications and appropriate use criteria, m'k? You wanna check a gallbladder's function, but the patient isn't experiencing any pain, nausea, vomiting, or bowel issues, it's not going to get covered and you don't get paid. No more lung scans on patients who have no chest pain, shortness of breath, or abnormal bloodwork. Your inability to give me an appropriate diagnosis and tell me why I should do a test affects my paycheck too. Exams that aren't covered and paid by insurance affect our reimbursement, which affects how much payroll we have, which affects our staffing levels and who gets to work that day.
I'm gonna need a lot of chocolate in the coming weeks.
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