External Causes, Passover and ICD10 All in One!

B'SD

24 Nisan, 5774

This is not your ordinary blogpost. I'm addressing some diverse topics, with a grin.

I've enjoyed a fun end to Passover/Pesakh, milling around a Mimouna festival in a local park, then listening to the lively music from my home.

I return to medical coding class today, after a week's vacation. I bet we'll have some fun coding this phenom (the psych code for "Dunderhead" must be a doozy!). 

Surgeons in India find 12 gold bars in man's stomach

The sad reality is that for all the pundits who maligned ICD10 and its "outlandish" external cause codes, this is a sad lesson in why such codes are increasingly necessary.

I remain optimistic that America's legislators can reverse medical and financial harm to the public by reinstating the October 2014 ICD10 implementation date. 

Responsible adults learn from their mistakes and correct them. 

They repair harm they have unintentionally - or intentionally - caused.

ICD10 coding is worth gold, well, more cash in the pockets of patients and medical facilities, that is. It can do far more good there than in some selfish guy's gut, no?





Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism. 

Figure out the solutions (and how to lower the costs!) to your medical and/or mental health issues. Read E-book or print edition  EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 

 

Happy Passover!

B'SD

I hope to take some vacation time from blogging for the rest of Passover. 

This blog business tends to be so serious.

I prefer to spend my time smiling. 

Here's something that might get you smiling with me! It's from the ever-popular www.aish.com site.

Have a safe, healthier and healthier spring break. See you next week, if all goes as planned.

 
Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism. 

Find reasons to smile - that's good for inner and outer health!

 

Are there only 3 Options for Taking Advantage of the ICD10 Delay? Or 4?

B'SD

17 Nisan, 5774

Within the medical industry, there's an enduring debate about the merits and upside of the i10 delay. This one is entitled 3 ways providers can take advantage of the ICD-10 delay.

Dontcha just LUV this quote: 

"From a hospital perspective, enough already," Linda Reed, vice president and chief information officer at Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Health, told FierceHealthIT. "We've spent the money, done the work and started all the training. From a physician practice perspective, I'm not sure giving another year would make any difference in readiness. The extension from 2013 to 2014 didn't."

Those words made me think of two very different scenarios and the motivations behind them:

  1) Doomsday preppers who shuddered as the clock struck midnight on the last day of 1999... 

  2) The purpose of procrastination, and its inevitable result...

Neither scenario relates to productive results.

People tend to find out that they can cope with reality once they decide to deal with it. That tends to lead to better and better consequences.

Read the rest of the 3 Options story, 

http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/special-reports/3-ways-providers-can-take-advantage-icd-10-delay, 

then ask your legislators what they're doing to redress the ICD10 implementation delay.

By the way, I've identified a fourth option for taking advantage of the ICD10 delay: Learning from the mistake.

There's more good reading in 

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Find answers you need. Do your homework.

 

The Developing Drain on US Medical Facility Financial Resources

B'SD

16 Nisan, 5774   

I spent a heartwarming, humorous and deeply spiritual Passover seder with friends. Today I'm hard at work, a very unplanned activity.

I'm sorry to be spending the intermediate days of Passover week in my home office rather than outdoors with holiday-oriented fun. 

I have to study up on the ICD9 medical coding system that President Obama permits the US medical world to use, instead of the more efficient and financially friendly ICD10 system.

A few months ago, Marilyn Tavenner, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services) publicly announced that "There will be no more delays to the October 1 deadline to implement the International Classification of Diseases-10th revision (ICD-10) coding system." 

Well she was in for a nasty surprise.

I've blogged about the unexpected ICD10 delay several times. The impact of the phenomenon is going to be felt by insured and uninsured Americans over time. The shock will eventually register with the public, as it already has with medical and medical coding, professionals.

That's why I'm working hard today and the rest of the holiday week: I'm plowing my way through 300 or so pages of unexpected schoolwork, studying the pre-Internet ICD9 method of medical coding that Obama permits.

Continuing ICD9 use will likely damage Americans immeasurably by crippling the medical insurance industry's efforts to reimburse medical professionals, medical facilities and patients.

It will seriously hamper medical research efforts by limiting communication efforts among US medical research members and their counterparts in the rest of the industrialized world (they've used ICD10 since 1996. America is not keeping up with the class. US medical coders just lost the best means of justifying bigger, more frequent medical insurance reimbursements from coast to coast, due to obama's legislative efforts!).

US Hospitals will probably go out of business due to the influx of patients who lack medical insurance or enough of it. Emergency room patients will be receiving free, non-reimburseable medical care in far too many cases, due to the obamacare debacle, the ICD10 delay and their ramifications. 

A financially unfit number of ER patients are already using hospitals for routine doctor care they never pay for. Nobody does.

The problem is likely to worsen, and to harm people in ever-widening circles.

I've long referred to the developing situation as ObaNOcare. It is costing people their insurance policies and health. 

Journalists are citing the poor math and other awry calculations that obamacare engenders. Even House Speaker Boehner decries the foulup.

The developing drain on US medical facility financial resources, let alone medical professionals, will be crippling.

I am saddened at having to remain home bound when I so want to have fun, interacting with new and old friends. I'm trying to see the upside of isolation. 

Meanwhile, medical coders like me can do our best to help the public and medical world by making our best medical coding efforts to bring in necessary monies. So, I'm studying hard.

But while you and I wonder how to solve the problem, the US president is focused on being offended by criticism of obamacare. Not quite the quality of character you'd need or want in a government leader.

As Robin Sharma teaches, "If you're not developing the best in others, you're not leading." Reflect on that teaching. Consider the nightmare scenarios that developed in the last two presidential terms.

You can read more about Ms. Tavenner at Tired of Talking about Healthcare.gov.

When I have better news to share, I'll celebrate it with you as soon as possible.

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism. 

Figure out how to convince your legislators to repair the problems cited above. Why? Because The Doctor Won't See You Now.

Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. You need it more than ever if you're in the USA.

 

Hospitals Concerned about ICD-10 Delay - Here's Why

B'SD

13 Nisan, 5774

Passover is only a day away (the holiday of spiritual and physical freedom begins Monday night). I've been busy preparing for the fun and introspection these past few weeks (when I'm not studying medical coding or learning how to save lives).

I have not forgotten about the impact of the ICD10 medical coding delay. The situation scares me. Few Americans realize that it could have put money in their wallets with bigger and more frequent medical insurance reimbursements.

How are hospitals dealing with the unaffordable healthcare situation that an apparently clueless congress and healthcare-endangering president dealt to them? 

Read

Hospitals concerned about ICD-10 delay

Learn of organizations willing to pay part or all of your medical care. Find out how to lower your stress levels in can-do ways.

Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism. 

Feel free to contact your legislators to ask for redress.



 

Certified to Save Lives!

B'SD

10 Nisan, 5774

I spent the past few (HOT, SUNNY and pre-Passover) days learning from Pikud HaOref (Israel's Homeland Security folks) how to save lives in the event of terror attacks or earthquake, and other disasters. I'm zonked, satisfied and certified. But do me a favor: Pray hard, be nice and stay safe. I don't want to swing another axe, bust through brick or concrete walls in awful positions, pull bricks and/or dirt up and away as fast as I can, or to heave any boulders off possible survivors. Yes I know how to load someone with broken bones, burns and other injuries onto a stretcher. 

We won't even go into what disaster scenes and survivors can look like, OK? Let's just say I'm blessed with a strong, very strong, stomach. AND WOW do I understand I10 disaster codes a lot better now. BE GOOD.

PS - We worked hard to finish the course fast so students could return to our regularly scheduled activities: CLEANING our hearts and homes for the Passover holiday which starts next week!

I wore surgical scrubs under my skirt and for my top (under the orange rescuer's vest) so I could competently stretch over things without causing self-injury. Disaster scenes tend to itch, scratch and make a person dirty. I needed to work full speed ahead.

PPS - wouldja believe I've done medical coding homework in the last few days, too?

I'll add photos of the men we worked with, plus our male commanders - if I receive the ones they took.

Ah, here's something from my files:

Need tips on how to heal and to afford the things you need? Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.

Figure out how to use your future to personal and public advantage. 


 

How ICD10 is Poised to HELP the Average American - and Beyond

B'SD

9 Nisan, 5774

ICD-10 is the newest version of International Classification of Diseases designed by the World Health Organization. It enables medical researchers and medical professionals in industrialized nations to communicate in optimal fashion to protect global health.

It has received bad press for quite some time.

It is maligned for being more complicated than past ICD versions, and loaded with obscure meanings, improbable situations and other bothersome stuff.

What critics fail to realize is that ICD-10 aka I10, enables medical coders such as me to explain the nature of problems and treatments that have become part of life since the invention of the Internet:

• Extreme sports and attendant injuries are newish developments. 

• So are problems which result from using digital devices, exposure to chemicals recently added to public life, increased medical awareness of disease processes plus their causes and cures. 

• The skills for identifying child, spouse, employee and other abuses are better than they were in the past, too. 

Those are only a tiny smidgen of issues that matter to the new ICD-10 version of medical coding and to your medical insurance reimbursements. 

They also matter to the way public health care is improved.

New medicines, medical devices, medical strategies and medical insight invented after the creation of the Internet are being used today. The previous version of medical coding, ICD-9, can't possibly reflect that.

Without ICD-10 available as a communication tool in the wider medical care, medical coding, medical research and medical insurance worlds, there is simply no way to adequately, thoroughly inform many people who need to know of those realities.

When you read condemnations such as New Coding System to Add Costs, Burdens to Healthcare, you need to put things into perspective.

Anyone using a new tool needs to learn how to use it. That adds costs of money and time to the picture. 

But the cost-effectiveness of inevitably better insurance reimbursements improves the overall situation.

So do cutting-edge medical reporting and research, used to protect your health.

What about doctors who feel burdened by the learning curve? I propose that they consider what it would be like to deliver medical care without knowing developing trends in public health and harm. Working without sufficient information can limit medical care. So can lower medical insurance reimbursements to their medical practices and facilities.

Look at Coder Coach's Newsflash for a brief overview of the situation.

Now consider this: When medical coders can better explain to your insurer about why you benefited from medical practices refined and more effective than what was available before 1979 (when the present form of medical coding went into effect) or invented after the invention of the Internet, you stand to receive BIGGER and more frequent medical insurance reimbursements for the medical care keeping you optimally healthy/alive.

You'd also be able to benefit from more accurate medical research statistics. They teach medical professionals about what's likely to harm or help you. Stuff all of you need to know.

Here's a peek at the evidence mounting about the effects of improved medical care. 

The ICD-10 medical coding system enables important people to process that information for the betterment of public and financial health.

So, are you ready to benefit from the wealth of updated medical procedures and more?

Tell your senators, congressmen/women and president that you want ICD-10 medical coding in America, NOW.



Need to take action to nurture yourself through a medical or mental health setback in the meantime?

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Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism. 

Fill your mind with facts, not rumors. That's good for your health.



 

Fallout is Hitting the Fans Due to the US' ICD10 Delay

B'SD

Nisan 4, 5774

The fallout is hitting fans across the world as medical industry professionals in industrialized countries - using ICD10 medical coding since 1996 - wonder how the US will cope with lagging behind the entire class. 

A jump straight from ICD-9 to ICD-11 -- as some opponents of ICD-10 have suggested in the past -- may not be likely.

ICD-11 won't be released until 2017 and likely won't be available in the U.S. until at least 2020, Jeff Smith, director of public policy at the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives in Ann Arbor, Mich., said.

"Waiting until 2021 or 2022 is simply not an option given the kind of payment reforms that are needed, and given the wholly inadequate nature of ICD-9 codes," Smith told MedPage Today in an email.

What does this mean to Americans 

and their medical care?

1) Hampered communications between worldwide medical researchers and medical professionals who've used the ICD10 medical coding system since 1996!!!

2) As for the inevitable crippled ability of US insurance companies: 

• Americans will receive smaller medical insurance reimbursements than ICD10 could have facilitated.

• We medical coders and your medical professionals lack the means to prove that your care costs more than it used to, or was invented after the creation of the Internet.

I kid you not. The federal government of the USA tripped up US health care by passing that HR 4302 bill. 

By the way, NOT ONE legislator read the line about delaying ICD10 aloud - during 5 hours of televised coverage of the HR 4302 bill passage event!

Did they sign a contract without reading the entire document? Fail to understand its implications?

Well, no matter what, or how to pin the blame...

You're stuck in 1979's standards of ICD9 medical coding. It will cost America a LOT of money.

The entire medical and medical coding worlds are reeling from that development.

Need financial help out of your misery? 

Learn about organizations willing to help pay all or part of your medical bills in the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism. 

Feel free to notify your legislators of the problem.

 

Americans Need More and Better Medical Resources

B'SD

1 Nisan, 5774

I have something of a heavy heart today. I've learned that the senate passed that SGR bill. Here's what I posted to Facebook:

• 

  Yocheved Golani OY. The bill passed 64 Yes, 35 No. 
  
  I am convinced that America's health is on a totally downward course. Americans have just lost out on improved data-gathering and sharing, bigger insurance reimbursements, better patient care and other positive developments. 
  
  Now the White House, darkened by its utter failure to provide Americans with realistic medical insurance, can sign it into law or deny passage of the bill. Obama is not likely to improve on things, judging from his poorly designed obamacare act. 
  
  America is compost. http://journal.ahima.org/.../senate-votes-on-icd-10.../
  

  
  

  Senate Passes ICD-10 Delay Bill | Journal of AHIMA

  journal.ahima.org
  

  The Senate voted today to approve a bill that will delay the implementation of ICD-10-CM/PCS by at least one year. The bill now moves to President Obama, who is expected to sign it into law.

Legislators missed a crucially important point when they cast their "YES" votes: Americans Need More and Better Medical Resources.

I'm turning my attention to Passover preparations. The happy holiday happens in about 2 weeks. A time of Godly redemption, I pray that it will bring rescue from all kinds of troubles, for people around the world.

Meanwhile, if you or someone you know need affordable or no-cost help with some aspect of your medical care, read a book that medical and mental health professionals recommend:

Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. 

Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism.

Find resources you need.