By Oct. 1, U.S. health care payers and providers will adopt a modified and greatly expanded version of the code set used for diagnoses and inpatient procedures. The ICD-10 code set (International Classification of Disease and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision) will replace ICD-9, which has been in use in the United States since 1979.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center plans to adopt ICD-10 by July. Vanderbilt coders are currently double-coding diagnoses and procedures with ICD-9 and ICD-10. ICD-10 code lookup is available in StarPanel, Vanderbilt’s electronic medical records system.
According to Jennifer Causey, administrative director for the transition, some 1,700 staff and 1,000 faculty have already received training. Another 3,200 staff and faculty will need training before July.
For staff who use ICD codes, a 20-minute online training module is available through the Learning Exchange (Vanderbilt login required). To enroll for this training, contact the ICD-10 Project Transition Office at 343-1657.
Clinical faculty initially receive one-hour group training, tailored to each specialty, covering clinical documentation and the greater specificity of the ICD-10 code set. Later, clinicians will also receive training on code selection itself.
In clinics, a computer application called VOOM (Vanderbilt Outpatient Order Management) will facilitate the switch to ICD-10. Clinicians will use VOOM to order lab, radiology and other diagnostic tests, to order return visits, internal consults and vaccinations, and to document diagnosis and procedure codes.
User-support teams will stand by as clinicians begin using VOOM for ICD-10 code selection.
CPT (current procedural terminology) coding activity is unaffected by the switch to ICD-10. For more information visit VUMC’s ICD-10 transition website (Vanderbilt login required).
