News: ACDIS releases new ICD-10-CM/PCS timeline guidance

Not sure where you should be in your ICD-10 implementation? The ACDIS Advisory Board created a revised training timeline specifically for CDI professionals. And "stay the course" is its overarching message.

The revised ICD-10-CM/PCS training and implementation timeline which includes quarter-by-quarter and then month-by-month recommendations for preparedness activities. It makes recommendations such as emphasizing PCS coding and record reviews during the fourth quarter of 2014, developing organizational strategies to identify and prioritize documentation risks by January 2015, and incrementally increasing the scope of coders’ and CDI staff members’ dual coding and communication efforts.

Although the ACDIS revised timeline includes many recommended actions, one of the most important elements is fostering facility-wide communication, says Michelle McCormack, RN, BSN, CCDS, CRCR, ACDIS advisory board member and director of CDI for Stanford Hospital & Clinics in Palo Alto, California.

Stanford Hospital & Clinics, for example, has a number of ICD-10 focused working committees that meet regularly, on separate schedules, then come together monthly with organizational leadership to review key activities and accomplishments and jointly tackle barriers to progress.

While dual coding is a big component of the revised ACDIS timeline, if you haven’t begun dual coding, McCormack says that you can make significant progress by simply revising your electronic templates and query forms for ICD-10.

Editor's Note:ACDIS members received an exclusive first look at the new timeline via email July 14. Click here to download the timeline and related article.