Poor coordination among providers, payers, and federal regulators is making it difficult for HR to perform its part in ICD-10 preparation. The strategic way forward is to proactively assess your organization's needs and immediately start recruiting, training, and retaining HIT and coding professionals.
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If there isn't a code in the ICD-10 diagnostic code set expressly for the anxiety that comes from trying to comply with specific federal regulatory mandates, there ought to be. And why not? The expansive catalog of codes includes conditions as detailed as being pecked by a chicken (W6133XD) and enduring a prolonged stay in a weightless environment (X52).
Surely the stress of preparing to meet the Oct. 1 deadline for transitioning to the ICD-10 diagnostic code set is an affliction familiar to hospital and health system CIOs, CMIOs, IT directors, and HR staff. It's ironic, perhaps, that the new code set omits a specific reference to the very pain it inflicts. The closest I can find is "reaction to severe stress, unspecified" (F439).
One of the biggest obstacles to meeting ICD-10 compliance requirements is the poor coordination among providers, payers, and federal regulators, says Medical Group Management Association Senior Policy Advisor Robert Tennant. "This is a recipe for disaster if all of these pieces don't come together," he said in a recent interview with HealthLeaders Media.
This chaos makes it difficult for HR to perform its part: recruiting, training, and retaining workers who will get the ICD-10 job done. According to the global talent management firm Tek Systems, "many healthcare organizations do not know exactly what competencies will be required, and to what scale."
If you don't know which competencies your organization lacks and which positions need to be filled, you need a strategy to identify the gaps. One way is to seek a greater understanding of your organization's needs by forging better relationships with the CIO, CTO, and other health information technology leaders.
A Proactive Stance
Don't wait for them to ask for help with recruitment. Ask them to help you identify and anticipate staffing needs as ICD-10 moves through its lifecycle: from preparation to implementation, to training, testing, and into maintenance mode.
Just the training aspect alone requires an HR strategy of its own. Some ICD-9 coders will be lost by attrition. They will have to be replaced with trained ICD-10 coders, and the pool of qualified candidates is not deep (fall into empty swimming pool, initial encounter, W173XXA).
The coders who remain will all need to be trained, which will, for a time, slow productivity and further strain resources. Your organization may need to bring in temporary coding staff and remote workers to make up for the lag (slowness and poor responsiveness, R464).
And depending on the size of your organization, HR may be tasked with securing training resources and documenting employee certifications (other physical and mental strain related to work, Z566.)
The Consequences of Not Being Prepared
The consequences of not having a workforce that's fully prepared cannot be understated. First, organizations that fail to comply with the ICD-10 mandate face the possibility of federal fines.
Potentially worse is the loss of revenue stemming from lower payments associated with coding errors. Every bill that is incorrectly coded opens the door to a financial loss.
See Also: ICD-10: Minimizing the Financial Hit
HR's power to affect revenue is often overlooked. This is an opportunity for HR leaders to re-assert that power. Pointing out skill and resource gaps and filling them before revenue loss is felt is the kind of leadership story that strengthens teams, builds careers, and in extreme cases could make or break an organization.
Act Now, Don't Delay
The ICD-10 deadline has already been postponed for a year, and it's probably not out of the question that it could be delayed again. But don't bet on it. The negative consequences of under-preparedness are too great, and could lead to many sleepless nights for healthcare executives (nightmare disorder, F515)
Instead, get out in front of your organization's ICD-10 needs now. Any extra time CMS grants providers and payers will be a bonus. Failure to do so could result in a code Z565.