2015 CPT and HCPCS codes
2015 CPT and HCPCS codes will not change on October 1, 2015, however on October 1, 2015 the International Classifications of Diseases (ICD) diagnoses and procedures are changing from ICD-9 to ICD-10. There are no major changes to the 2015 CPT or HCPCS Level II codes until January of 2016. The existing 2015 CPT and HCPCS Level II codes will remain the same through the end of December. The transition to ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS does not affect CPT or HCPCS Level II codes. Physician claims will still have all their services using the same 2015 E/M, CPT procedures and HCPCS codes.
Professional Operative Reports of Inpatient Surgeries
There is no need to significantly change the documentation for hospital coders to correctly code the new inpatient hospital procedures. Any devices intentionally left behind, the approach and endoscopic equipment should be documented.
Professional Diagnoses
Physicians, in general, will not see much change with their practice coding. 95% of the ICD-9-CM diagnoses have one-to-one matches in terminology, or something so close that there is no need to select the correct ICD-10-CM. If you can correctly code diagnoses in ICD-9-CM, you can correctly code diagnoses in ICD-10-CM.
It is unlikely to increase specificity in the ICD-10-CM diagnosis coding to get paid for office visits.
Institutional Components of Procedures
The procedures that are changing significantly are the inpatient hospital procedures. Most inpatient coders have stepped up to the plate and are ready. For anyone else who is still putting off learning ICD-10-PCS, just go out to CMS. Download the ?2015 Official ICD-10-PCS Coding Guidelines,? the ?2015 Code Tables and Index? and the ?2015 ICD-10-PCS Reference Manual.? Print out the 136 pages of the reference manual and work through it. It is the easiest way to learn. If the ICD-9-CM procedure is known, then it can be checked by the GEMS mapping to ICD-10-PCS to see the correct answer. In many cases, the GEMS will give many answers, but the right code must be found.
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