Part 2: One coder’s cost-effective strategy for education

In my last blog post, I explained how I tackled the challenge of educating myself about ICD-10, realizing the significant cost that would be associated with registering for every ICD-10 Webinar, seminar, and educational session under the sun.

In addition to creating quizzes and memory aids to help myself learn ICD-10 codes, I also worked to refine my own coding reference Excel spreadsheet, which became a valuable tool and part of my daily routine.

I read through most of the 2003 Draft ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting for Acute Short-term and Long-term Hospital Inpatient and Physician Office and other Outpatient Encounters and then I began to crosswalk a homegrown coding reference Excel spreadsheet that I currently use on a daily basis to ICD-10. My plan was to complete crosswalking my spreadsheet and then after purchasing an ICD-10 Manual, proceed to practice assigning ICD-10 codes for charts that I code on a regular basis.

I also started to incorporate ICD-10 into my daily discussions with other coders. When I answered an ICD-9 coding question, I would also provide the ICD-10 codes, especially when the discussion was about controversial, problematic issues related to ICD-9 (e.g., there is not a specific enough code). I felt that this daily application and routine of looking up of ICD-10 codes for various questions that I answer on listservs and through other informal coding discussions would get me into an ICD-10 coding frame of mind.

After that, I started to read through the ICD-10-PCS reference manual, and I started memorizing the characters for each section and body system for the procedural coding system. I also planned to create a quiz on the structural differences between ICD-9-CM Volume 3 and ICD-10-PCS. I had recently written a comprehensive training module on ICD-9-CM Volume 3 procedures, and my plan was to update that training module as well as any other ICD-9 Volume 3 reference sheets that I had.

At the beginning of 2009, I noted the updated 2009 official coding guidelines, namely  ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting, and prepared notes detailing the differences between the 2003 and the 2009 guidelines. I also updated my coding files that I had downloaded to my desktop for daily use to reflect the new 2009 coding system.

At that point, I had heard about the possible freeze of ICD-10, so I decided to hold off on completing the conversion of my diagnosis and procedure reference sheets and training materials until at least 2010 in hopes of being able to plan around any possible freezes. Access a recent ICD-10 Watch post to learn more about this possible freeze.

I continue to code with ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS when answering coding questions, and I continue to study the ICD-10-PCS reference manual. If you’re looking for a low-cost strategy for acquiring ICD-10 education, keep in mind that all of this practice using ICD-10 costs only my time.

Tune in for my next blog post, when I share some ideas for building on this foundation of knowledge.

Has your coding team come up with some cost-effective strategies for learning about ICD-10? Post a comment, and share your tips with other ICD-10 Watch subscribers.