OMG-10 Part 2: Considering Your Options

on July 19th, 2012   by IOD Incorporated

We have a few options for preparation:

1. Do nothing – it’s easy and doesn’t take much planning. However, you will need to prepare for lots of chats with your CFO.
2. Hire more coders – up to 20% long term. The likelihood of hiring additional coders is slim. Budgets are already tight and coders are in short supply.
3. Agencies – may help you get you through the initial shock. However, agencies are probably not an affordable long-term solution. In addition, competition for agency resources will be fierce.
4. Expect ICD-9 levels of productivity – good luck! The new diagnosis coding system is structured differently and contains procedure coding that is nothing like ICD-9. Plus, you have to contend with new documentation requirements and more physician queries.
5. Plan “U” – unload abstraction burden : Getting Coders Back to Coding