What is ICD-10 Coding?
ICD stands for International Classification of Diseases and is a medical classification list by the World Health Organization. The United States is not the only country to utilize the ICD-10 codes. The United States utilizes its own variant of the ICD-10 coding classification. The National Center for Health Statistics is responsible for ICD-10 use in the United States. The codes have information about epidemiology, managing health, and treating conditions. Health professionals use ICD codes to record and identify health conditions. ICD codes can be used to trend health, and track morbidity and mortality. Insurers use ICD codes to classify conditions and to help determine reimbursement.
ICD-10 codes are alphanumeric and contain 3-7 characters. The first 3 characters define the category of the disease, disorder, infection or symptom. The characters in positions 4-6 define the body site, severity of the problem, cause of the injury or disease, and other clinical information. The 7th character is an extension character used for varied purposes such as defining if this is the initial encounter for the problem, a subsequent encounter, or a secondary condition resulting from another condition.
The ICD-10 code reflects an increase in diagnosis codes from the previous version. The ICD-10 offers more accurate medical descriptions, differentiation in risk and severity, help to distinguish symptoms of diseases, and efficiently reimburse claims. ICD-10 codes advances health care by improving the overall efficiency of the healthcare industry and offering updated medical terminology and disease classifications. It also improves the accuracy of diagnosis codes and supports reimbursement models that pays for more complex issues. ICD-10 also improves payment efficiency by preventing errors and provides better data for study of diseases.
HCC Coding and ICD-10?
HCC (Hierarchical condition category) coding is a risk adjustment model designed to estimate healthcare costs for patients. HCC coding relies on ICD-10 coding to help assign risk scores to patients. Individual HCC code is mapped to an ICD-10 code.
What HCC Coders can do for you!
For all of your HCC coding needs, we can also help with your ICD-10 coding. As part of our HCC Coding tasks, we validate your ICD-10 diagnosis codes with patient medical records. Having accurate ICD-10 coding will enable appropriate billing and risk adjustments. If you have any questions with our HCC coding services, give us a call at 877-328-2343. Reach out to HCC Coders today! Rest assured that your HCC coding needs are in good hands with us.