How Much Surge Is Your ICD 10 Coding Prepped To Handle? Stop And Get A Back-up Plan

Things go quickly in home health. You receive the referral, see the patient, and develop the care plan typically within 48 hours. So, where does ICD 10 coding fit into the mix? Well, it should be an integral cog in your clinical wheel. To keep the process flowing through to billing, ICD 10 coding cannot fall behind. One of the biggest issues we see; Agencies are not prepared for surge. So, how do you make sure you can handle it when things really get busy? 

In-House ICD 10 Coding: 

For those of you with in-house coding, do you know what surge your current staff can handle without falling behind? We know that employees can increase productivity to accommodate for a brief period. The question is whether the quality of coding during surge declines. If your staff increases productivity by 20% during a surge time, have you measured the data to determine if HHRG decreases? Are you missing things in the coding because the staff does not have time to dig into the clinical documentation? If so, then what dollars are you missing and what potential coding errors have been made in the process? 

Outsourced Coding: 

For those of you that currently outsource, you should know your coding provider’s ability to manage surge. If you come to them tomorrow with an increase in charts that need ICD 10 coding, how many can they handle before they are behind? If you do not know, then you should find out.  

Using Outsourced Coding as A Surge and Back-Up Plan:  

Your ICD 10 coding solution does not have to fit into a cookie cutter format. An in-house solution does not mean an outsourced contract is not necessary or beneficial at times. You need to consider surge as well as planned and unplanned absences of current coding staff. If a coder walks into your office and states he or she must be off for the next 3 months for surgery, what will that mean for productivity in that department? What about planned vacations? In the past, you may have just gotten behind and it took some overtime pay to catch up. We do not have that luxury in our timelines anymore. So, put a backup plan in place so you do not miss anything when you are down a coder, or your agency has surging numbers. In the agencies we have worked with, having a backup plan in place helps decrease stress among staff and keep timelines moving in the right direction. Get something in place now before you are in the middle of an issue.  

Kenyon Homecare Consulting can be your full-time outsourced coding solution or your backup in times of surge or in-house coding absences. We have nurses certified in Oasis and ICD 10 with years of experience in the field. We partner with you to help clinicians improve Oasis accuracy and clinical documentation in the process. Call us today at 206-721-5091 or contact us online to see how we can help you be prepared!