In this episode, Victoria Hernandez, Senior Coding Analyst at BESLER, provides us with a glimpse into BESLER’s next webinar in The Hospital Finance Academy, Preparing for ICD-11, presented live on Wednesday, November 6, at 1 PM ET.
Podcast (hfppodcast): Play in new window | Download
Learn how to listen to The Hospital Finance Podcast® on your mobile device.Highlights of this episode include:
- What our audience can expect from the webinar on November 6th
- How other countries are already live with ICD-11
- Guides/references available to facilitate this transition
- Side-by-side comparison between ICD-10 and ICD-11
Kelly Wisness: Hi, this is Kelly Wisness. Welcome back to the award-winning Hospital Finance Podcast. We’re pleased to welcome back Victoria Hernandez, Senior Coding Analyst at BESLER. In this episode, Victoria will provide us with a glimpse into BESLER’s next webinar in The Hospital Finance Academy, Preparing for ICD-11, that we’re presenting live on Wednesday, November 6th at 1 PM Eastern Time. Welcome back and thank you for joining us, Victoria.
Victoria Hernandez: Thank you, Kelly. I’m thrilled to be back in your podcast. Thanks for having me.
Kelly: No problem. Well, let’s go ahead and jump in. So, you’re covering a pretty big topic on your next webinar, Preparing for ICD 11. Looking back, it was 2015, almost 10 years ago, when ICD-10 replaced ICD-9. It’s exciting to hear that we’re now looking at ICD-11. Can you share some information on what our audience can expect from your webinar on November 6th?
Victoria: Yes, you’re right, Kelly. It was almost a decade ago when the United States transitioned to ICD-10. So that’s October 1st, 2015, to be exact. If everyone can just go back in time, right, and try to remember all the preparation that took place for each organization’s ICD-10 go-live, boy, I’m sure we can all share a few best practices along with what worked and what didn’t. So, at our November 6th webinar, we’ll first go over some background and history timeline. Next, we’ll have an overview of ICD-10, then we’ll just dive into the latest background updates, new developments, and some challenges. We’ll also do a side-by-side comparison between ICD-10 and ICD-11. So, I think that will be interesting to see what that would look like, especially knowing what we need to prepare for this next step. So, we’ll definitely be sharing a lot with our audience.
Kelly: Oh, I bet. And I know that was a really complicated time. I’m not in coding, but I have been in healthcare that long, so I know it was a crazy time. So, I have to ask, are other countries already live with ICD-11?
Victoria: Oh, good question, Kelly. Actually, as of 2022, there were reported 35 countries already using ICD-11. And as of, I guess, the following year after that, so about February 2023, there have been reports of 64 countries already in the different stages of the ICD-11 implementation. So, for sure, many more are underway. CISA, the World Health Organization, so WHO is interested in really moving countries to go forward to ICD-11. So, what’s also interesting is that in addition to English, ICD-11 is also now available in French, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic. So, it doesn’t even stop there. There’s actually about 20 more languages in the works, including Russian. So, I’m curious to even see a translated ICD-10 book from today if I could just check it out on a different language. So, I’m sure I’d learn a few things just with that alone.
Kelly: Wow, that is so interesting. It’s been translated into so many languages. I can imagine how educational it would be just to explore and compare the similarities and differences of the various versions. And you mentioned the World Health Organization’s interest in countries moving to ICD-11. So, what would be the reason? And then secondarily, also with all the different versions and translations, are there adequate guides or references available to facilitate this transition?
Victoria: Yeah. They pretty much find these meaningful data for prevention, resourcing, or evaluations. They’re best produced with a standardized classification, and they base this on the latest medical and scientific updates and knowledge. So next to ICD-11, ICD-10 is scientifically and technology outdated, so, I know, unfortunately, as much as we think we’re ahead right now. But as for the available adequate guides and references, on your second question, yes, there’s actually lots of references and resources. So, there’s implementation packages available, and that would help for the transitioning from the ICD-10 to ICD-11. Then there are also digital reference guides, some training platforms even, self-learning training guides, a lot of web services, for sure. And I also like this ICD-11 fact sheet, just like a quick summary of quick Q&As for newbies like me, and many more.
So, there are already spreadsheets and updates and even mapping tables available today already for download. So, I also think that it’s beneficial to already have all these other countries who have gone live with ICD-11. That way, they can share some of the best practices and some of the do’s and don’ts, similar to what we did in the past when we transitioned to ICD-10. So, I think we can also learn today by being proactive and reviewing all those previous proposals, the input, feedback that have already been submitted to pretty much help in getting consideration for any code changes for ICD-11. So, there may be input from those submissions and feedback from different backgrounds, so whether they’re translators, clinicians, scientists even, or healthcare professionals of other, including health information management staff. Regardless, I’m sure there’s good information shared in those submissions and proposals.
Kelly: Oh, definitely. And it’s good to know that all the proper resources are available for a successful transition. You mentioned the side-by-side comparison between ICD-10 and ICD-11. Can you give us a little more information about that?
Victoria: Sure. I’ll give a little sneak peek or a little preview. Well, for starters, ICD-10-CM today, it has three to seven characters, and the decimal point is placed after the third character. Now for ICD-11 though, there are four to six characters, and this time, the decimal point is placed after the fourth character. So, another thing is ICD-11 will be completely electronic, so digital era, completely electronic, right? So of course, we’ll most likely also see the clear advancement in technology reflected more in the ICD-11 codes. The best and latest clinical knowledge and research are considered from 2015 up to today. So those will surely be represented in the ICD-11 codes, where in comparison to what we have right now in ICD-10, you’ll notice that the clinical knowledge and research had can be developed as far back as in the 1980s. So, I believe ICD-11, for sure, has the most recent and current research results. And also, ICD-11, it was really purposely designed to work with our current electronic health records. So, all these are behind this digital world that we’re in right now. So, it’s definitely well adapted to that. One more is ICD-11 has more chapters than ICD-10. So ICD-11 has 28 chapters, while ICD-10 today only has 22 chapters. So, I have different six chapters there. Now, I’ll be sharing those comparisons for now, but I’ll definitely share much more at the webinar. So, everyone, please tune in and join me on November 6th. So good stuff.
Kelly: Wow. Yeah. Sounds great. And thanks for sharing a little preview between ICD-10 and ICD-11. Is there anything else you want to share with us today, Victoria?
Victoria: Yes, Kelly. As I mentioned, I would love to just invite our listeners to attend our upcoming webinar, Preparing for ICD-11 on November 6th. So please join me, everyone, and also you can get your CEUs for attending. So, thank you.
Kelly: Yeah, definitely. Thanks so much for joining us today, Victoria, and for sharing the sneak peek into the upcoming webinar, Preparing for ICD-11, as part of our Hospital Finance Academy, that you’re presenting live, like you said, on Wednesday, November 6th at 1 PM Eastern Time. And like you mentioned, you can earn CEU, which I know everyone always loves. Thanks again, Victoria.
Victoria: Thank you, Kelly.
Kelly: And thank you all for joining us for this episode of The Hospital Finance Podcast. Until next time…
[music] This concludes today’s episode of The Hospital Finance Podcast. For show notes and additional resources to help you protect and enhance revenue at your hospital, visit besler.com/podcasts. The Hospital Finance Podcast is a production of BESLER | SMART ABOUT REVENUE, TENACIOUS ABOUT RESULTS.
If you have a topic that you’d like us to discuss on the Hospital Finance podcast or if you’d like to be a guest, drop us a line at update@besler.com.
