Why Patients, Providers and Payers All Want To...
...Break the ICD10 Code

By Brad Lindemann, President, Ambassador Solutions

There's a tsunami rolling through the U.S. healthcare industry destined to crash upon all shores come October 1, 2013. That's the looming federally mandated deadline by which providers and payers must be transitioned from the current ICD-9 medical coding standards to the new ICD-10 standards. ICD stands for "International Classification of Diseases", the lexicon containing the medical procedure and diagnostic codes used to document all provider/patient interactions.

Oddly, the United States will be the last major developed country in the world to adopt the ICD-10 standard. Or perhaps not so odd, given our national penchant for kicking the proverbial economic can down the road whenever it contains the short term suffering required for long term gain. Think sub-prime mortgages, stimulus packages and quantitative easing. Would that be one or two recession dips? But I digress...

From an information technology perspective, the national conversion from ICD-9 to 10 will make Y2K seem like a day at the spa. Experts say ICD-10 is orders of magnitude greater in scope than Y2K was. That's why as a premier provider of IT solutions to healthcare providers and payers alike, Ambassador Solutions is keenly focused upon the ICD-9 to 10 conversion challenges. So, we recently tracked down Ambassador's Director of Healthcare Solutions, Tom Walker, and asked him what all the fuss is about.

Brad: So Tom, what is all the fuss about? Why is ICD-10 such a BIG deal?

Tom: Today, under ICD-9, there are roughly 16,000 diagnostic and procedure codes. Under ICD-10, that number goes to 155,000...nearly ten times the number of codes. For example, there's only one diagnosis code for a broken ankle under ICD-9. There are nine codes for a broken ankle under ICD-10, depending upon which ankle was broken, where the break occurred and what type of break it was.

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Featuring Distinguished Members of the
A-Team Alumni Association

Charles Fear joined the A-Team as a Unix Administrator in 1999. Today, he's Manager of UNIX and Distributed Storage for Lincoln Financial Group in Ft. Wayne. (read more)

Charles credits Ambassador with giving him his first private sector job after leaving the Air Force. This was "the catalyst in catapulting my career. Though my time with Ambassador was a mere ~3 years, it set the tone for the future."

Charles parlayed his consulting stint into the position of Global Director - Infrastructure Operations at Johnson & Johnson. Last year, Charles moved back home to Ft. Wayne to assume his current position with Lincoln.

It's been a great ride so far, including traveling to Belgium, Australia, Singapore, Japan, Brazil, Manilla, Costa Rica, China, India...to name a few.

On the home front, Charles and his wife have kept busy raising three boys, a recently adopted daughter and 12 foster children. Wow! Talk about making a positive difference. How humbling it is to hear Charles say, "none of it was possible without the opportunity Ambassador provided in that initial placement at ITT Aerospace in Ft. Wayne."

Thanks for checkin' in, Charles. On behalf of all your fellow A-Team Alumni, I'm honored to say, we're just proud to know ya'!

According to seven industry experts, this ICD-10 roadmap could get you a long way down the road towards a successful ICD9 to 10 conversion...

Bitten by a turtle? There's a code for that. Burned by burning water skis? There's a code for that too. There's an ICD-10 for just about any medical mishap you might imagine...and some you couldn't possibly. For comic relief, take a humorous look at the ICD-10 coding craziness...

According to Health Fun Factz #189, the average office desk has 400 times more bacteria than a toilet. Ergo, it must be healthier to eat your lunch in the rest room stall than at your desk. Who knew? Yuck!

89 year old actress, Betty White, on exercise...

"I have a two-story house and a bad memory, so I'm up and down those stairs all the time. That's my exercise."

Our twelve Values in Action are the guiding principles of our firm. Perhaps you'll find some helpful guidance within them as well...

Humbly Serve Others

We are people serving people. We believe that our best interests are ultimately served by putting the interests of others before our own. Such service includes the giving of our time, talents, and treasures (individually and corporately) to those less fortunate. We do this in hopes of improving their quality of life today and their odds for a better life tomorrow. We do this in hopes of changing the world...for the better.

To see all twelve Values in Action, go to our online Culture Book or request a free hard copy.