Consortia of home health and hospice associations team up with CMS Ombudsman to ease ICD-10 transition
Washington, DC (PRWEB) October 22, 2015 -- On Thursday, October 8, 2015 the leading home health and hospice associations and CMS’ ICD-10 ombudsman, Dr. William Rogers, agreed to work together over the next 18-to-24 months to provide support to agencies as they transition to ICD-10.
Members of the workgroup include: Alliance for Home Health Quality and Innovation (AHHQI), Association of Home Care Coding & Compliance (AHCC), National Association of Home Care & Hospice (NAHC), National Hospice and Palliative Care Organizations (NHPCO), and Visiting Nurses Association of America (VNAA).
Led by AHCC, a division of DecisionHealth, the ICD-10 Transition Workgroup will be the conduit through which ICD-10 transition-related questions and concerns are channeled with the intent of supporting the Ombudsman in his efforts to quickly reach resolution. Members of the AHCC board, and its credentialing body the Board of Medical Specialty Coding & Compliance (BMSC), are recognized as the country’s foremost authorities on compliant coding for home health and hospice. Each of them has more than 20 years of coding experience in the subspecialty, and each has been providing ICD-10 education and training to the industry for the past two years.
“I welcome the support of the Home Health and Hospice ICD-10 Transition Workgroup as the healthcare industry goes through this critical period,” says Dr. Rogers. “It’s important that all providers be properly paid for the services they provide, but because home health payments are tied directly to the code selection and sequencing it is particularly important that issues be addressed in a timely manner.”
Dr. Rogers welcomes the industry to submit ICD-10 questions directly to him via the Ombudsman email box, ICD10_Ombudsman(at)cms(dot)hhs(dot)gov, but says that having AHCC’s home health and hospice coding experts preview the questions may accelerate the response time.
“Speaking for the workgroup, we couldn’t be more pleased that Dr. Rogers has agreed to work with the industry to quickly review and resolve ICD-10 coding questions,” says Tricia A. Twombly, BSN RN HCS-D HCS-O COS-C, CHCE, AHIMA approved ICD-10-CM certified trainer, ICE Certified Credentialing Specialist and CEO of BMSC.
For additional information contact:
Corinne Kuypers-Denlinger, Executive Director, AHCC
301-287-2363; CKuypers-Denlinger(at)decisionhealth(dot)com
Corinne Kuypers-Denlinger, DecisionHealth, http://www.decisionhealth.com, +1 301-287-2363, [email protected]
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