maize Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Want a peak at the newest medical billing code Bible? Is the US the only country with such an absurd health care billing system? http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/the-16-most-absurd-icd-10-codes/285737/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 Here are a few more: http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/a-gif-guide-to-the-most-important-animal-icd-10-codes/397563/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Those are kind of... awesome. And incredibly specific. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 Wonder how often the space craft collision one will get used... Thing is, no matter how many specific possibilities you try to cover, there are going to be a zillion possibilities that were never thought of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 It's so ridiculous and absurd. I have to laugh or I would have to quit my job. One or the other. It's also a huge reason for why healthcare costs continue to skyrocket. Billing is an industry unto itself. It's insane. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SemiSweet Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 I used to be a biller, those kind of codes never get used until after insurance denies or requests more information. That is one of the many reasons our healthcare system is garbage. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 I used to be a biller, those kind of codes never get used until after insurance denies or requests more information. That is one of the many reasons our healthcare system is garbage. I used to be a biller, too, for two mental health practices. There are a LOT of mental health code possibilities. We mostly used about 4 diagnosis codes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 My daughter was bumped by a golf cart this past summer at camp and tore the ligaments in her knee as a result. I didn't see that one on the list! They are failing... I still remember the time I had one wart on my hand frozen off and was charged hundreds of dollars because it was billed as "surgery." (And the wart came back!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Yeah, that should go well. I had a 6 month insurance nightmare when the hospital couldn't even submit the proper GENDER. Turns out, my insurance doesn't cover males for emergency surgery on a ruptured fallopian tube. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrixieB Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Lifting the ICD-10 book is enough to give one a hernia. And the code for that is... :lol: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 My friend just had a long training session on this. She is a DNP and says it is ridiculous as she has to give so many details on the injury and how it happened and on and on and on. It is just going to slow down her work.......more paper/computer work and less patient time. I remember one doctor we had who has a doctor in Bangladesh for years. He said medical record were a 3x5 card. Name on top, date, 1-2 word diagnosis and name of med given. SUPER simple and likely just as effective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderchica Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Want a peak at the newest medical billing code Bible? Is the US the only country with such an absurd health care billing system? http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/the-16-most-absurd-icd-10-codes/285737/ Nope. The U.S. Is the last developed nation to adopt the ICD-10. Everyone else has been using it for years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 #13 - My son burned himself while using a hot glue gun a couple of years ago. They were first degree burns. This makes me want to look and see how the claim was coded under the old system, but I don't have that much energy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 I've been a little sad about this. I used to work in health care administration. A lot of things have changed, but a lot has stayed the same. Additionally, the old adage of "The more things change, the more they stay the same" often plays out in the business arena of health care. This is one change that makes some of my knowledge obsolete. That makes me sad. I think this means I still miss my son who is newly off to college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Dh is in health insurance and confused about all the talk. These codes have been around for a while and we're slow to adopting. He thinks Canada started using them arond 2000. It's not supposed to be a hassle but is supposed to help in the long run. Dh's job is about finding the risks and hoping to help before things get too advanced. Using the right codes narrows the field and helps identify possible risk factors for patients. Those in health insurance aren't all horrible greedy people. Some are truly in it because they want to help people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 I guess it could be good for statisticians and data scientists. Someday we may really *need* to know how much of a threat squirrels or macaws are to the American population....and, lo and behold, we'll have the data right there. No more annoying phone surveys asking if you've ever been bitten by a sea lion or sucked into a jet engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 I have had two different friends (who live in different states, so do not work together) post pictures of them drinking wine with others at work yesterday as they dove into ICD-10. Apparently they felt the wine was necessary to get through it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 "Struck by duck, subsequent encounter" sent me into a giggling fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 I find myself wondering what treatment is available for follow up visits from being sucked into a jet engine... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonFaerie Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 My ex was run over by an industrial-sized construction forklift. The hospital rep told him that they "had to write new codes for him." Apparently people who are run over by this kind of machinery don't usually live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Dh is in health insurance and confused about all the talk. These codes have been around for a while and we're slow to adopting. He thinks Canada started using them arond 2000. It's not supposed to be a hassle but is supposed to help in the long run. Dh's job is about finding the risks and hoping to help before things get too advanced. Using the right codes narrows the field and helps identify possible risk factors for patients. Those in health insurance aren't all horrible greedy people. Some are truly in it because they want to help people. I do understand the rationale behind the codes, which were initially developed as a was for governments to track mortality and morbidity. And you are right that the US is slow to adopt. Some countries have been using them since 1994. The current codes were from 1975 I believe and I understand the idea that they are outdated. ICD-11 is actually coming out in 2018. :) I also know that lots of people in health insurance, especially risk assessment, are there to try to help doctors practice more preventative medicine. I think for me the issue is twofold. First, from a practical level, they are a big deal because they are a pain. Maybe it will get better as time goes on and I realize health care decisions aren't really about making my life easier, but that doesn't change the fact that they are a big pain right now. For example, this morning I saw a kid with strep throat. In the past I would have coded that as Pharyngitis and Strep Throat. Two codes. I can no longer do that, but there are about 10 different codes for pharyngitis depending on what kind you have (streptococcal, gonorrheal, unspecified, other organism, etc). In that example, the information that the insurance company gets is the exact same but I had to go and look up on a long list of codes what the new codes were. I saw another kid with asthma. We used to code it as asthma, with status or asthma, without status. Now we have to see whether it is mild persistent, with exacerbation, mild persistent without exacerbation, mild intermittent, etc. In that case I can see why the information is potentially useful as there is a big difference in the different types of asthma. However, on a practical level I now have to go to the 10 page paper that our coding company has prepared for us (with only the most likely codes we will use) and look up which one it is. At my age I am not going to memorize 20 different potential codes for asthma, so I will have to do this each time I see someone with asthma. Multiple that by 25 different patients a day and you can see why doctors see this as a big deal. It's yet one more thing that takes my time away from seeing patients. The other issue for me is that it is yet one more way that our health care system is moving away from looking at people as individuals and instead looks at numbers and data and statistics. I am actually a big proponent of looking at public health issues and at looking at how things effect a population, however, in practicing medicine on a day to day level I also see the individual. So much of my day is spent in figuring out codes and computers and "best practices" and documenting all these things and less and less is spent in talking to patients. With EMR, it is even worse. I now have to say upon discharge if every diagnosis a patient has is active or resolved in addition to making sure all possible diagnoses are coded correctly. That might seem easy but I still can't figure out if a "newborn, vaginal delivery" is an active issue or resolved. And I am definitely sure that clicking the right button on the computer in no way helps me actually help the parents of said newborn. Finally, I just see the huge industry that has grown up around codes. It's an industry into itself and I do think one of the many reasons why the health care spending is what it is. Doctors aren't innocent of overspending, don't get me wrong. We are also to blame but the bloated, bureauocratic system we have is also a huge part of the problem. I'm sure your husband is a good guy. I don't see health insurance companies as evil or bad. I do think that doctors and insurance companies by nature are coming at things from very different perspectives so are bound to have different views on health care. One side isn't necessarily wrong but we just might never see things the same way. And that's my really long answer as to why some of us do think that ICD-10 is a hassle. :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 YEP. This is what my friend who is a doctor says. SO many more codes to figure out. I noticed this too on my daughter's medical stuff. It had the old codes and the new codes on it with lots of extra stuff. A doctor is going to cringe when they see her come as she has 12 or so major ongoing diagnosis that likely have NOTHING to do with the broken arm or ingrown toenail, etc.......yet they will have to look at all of that stuff too. For example, this morning I saw a kid with strep throat. In the past I would have coded that as Pharyngitis and Strep Throat. Two codes. I can no longer do that, but there are about 10 different codes for pharyngitis depending on what kind you have (streptococcal, gonorrheal, unspecified, other organism, etc). In that example, the information that the insurance company gets is the exact same but I had to go and look up on a long list of codes what the new codes were. I saw another kid with asthma. We used to code it as asthma, with status or asthma, without status. Now we have to see whether it is mild persistent, with exacerbation, mild persistent without exacerbation, mild intermittent, etc. In that case I can see why the information is potentially useful as there is a big difference in the different types of asthma. However, on a practical level I now have to go to the 10 page paper that our coding company has prepared for us (with only the most likely codes we will use) and look up which one it is. At my age I am not going to memorize 20 different potential codes for asthma, so I will have to do this each time I see someone with asthma. Multiple that by 25 different patients a day and you can see why doctors see this as a big deal. It's yet one more thing that takes my time away from seeing patients. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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