Contents New ICD­10 CodeLookup Tool Further ICD­10 Notes

StellarSoftwareOur Staff...

Josiah Reynolds

Terry Kelley

Lori Tauer

470 James WayP.O. Box 635Harrison, AR 726011­800­741­4755 support1­870­741­5070 faxwww.stellarchiro.com

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SStteell llaarr GGOOOODD NNeewwssVolume 15, Issue 2 1­800­741­4755 September 2015

New ICD­10 CodeLookup ToolWe are pleased to announce theaddition of a new ICD­10 lookuptool for Stellar which will beavailable when setting thediagnoses for a patient.

To make the new tool available,you will first need to update Stellarto the latest version. Give us a callat your convenience and we canwalk you through the updateprocess, or if you do not have highspeed internet we can mail you anupdate CD.After the update is done, you willbe able to access the new toolafter changing a patient'sdiagnosis to ICD­10 by clicking theICD­10 checkboxin the top right ofthe patient'sdiagnosis tab.Stellar will attemptto convert thepatient's currentdiagnoses to ICD­10 using the ICD­9 to ICD­10crossover list.

During this process the new ICD­10 code lookup tool will beavailable by clicking the button inthe top right. After the process iscomplete and the patient has beenconverted to ICD­10, clicking thelittle down arrow in the Key or ICDcolumn will also display the ICD­10

Code Lookup tool.The new tool allowsfor looking updiagnoses using atabular/categoricallisting, analphabeticalterminology index, akeyword search, oran ICD­9 crossover.In addition, code andsection notes areavailable to provideadditionalinformation whichmay help you find

the correct code.The listings can be restricted toonly those codes consideredapplicable to a selected specialty(which defaults to the currentprovider's specialty), although youcan also select Other/Show All toaccess the entire ICD­10 code list.The specialty settings will beadjusted in the future; the currentsettings are simply an initialattempt to list only relevant codes.If you find that you are using codes

that are not shown for your specialty, or feel thatsome codes will never be used by your specialty,please let us know so that we can improve thequality of the specialty settings.Double­clicking a code on the Terminology,Keyword, or ICD­9 Crossover tabs will also jumpto that code's area in Category listing so that youcan easily review similar codes within thatcategory.As always, if you have any questions pleasedon't hesitate to contact us!

Further ICD­10 NotesDiagnosis Code Usage ReportIn addition to the ICD­10 code lookup tool, wehave also added a diagnosis code Usage Reportwhich provides a statistical breakdown of thefrequency with which you have been usingcertain diagnosis codes. Youcan access this report bygoing to Records,Diagnoses, and clicking theUsage Report button.We recommend printingthis report and using thefirst page or so as a guideto the most common ICD­9codes for which you will beneeding ICD­10 equivalents.Unfortunately, you maynot be able to rely entirelyon ICD­10 equivalents toICD­9 coding. ICD­10 ismuch more specific and hasa great many codes (especially cause of injurycodes) which may be needed and do notnecessarily have any ICD­9 equivalent. For thisreason, we highly recommend attending atleast one seminar on ICD­10 coding if you havenot done so already.Remember that your documentation must

support your coding, and that more precisecoding (and therefore documentation) may berequired for payment.Claim FormatsWe have had a few questions regarding claimformats for use with ICD­10. To clarify, the current02­12 paper claim form (look in the bottom right)is ICD­10 ready, as is the 5010 electronic claimformat. If you have any reason to believe you arenot using either of these, give us a call and wecan double check your settings.Initial, Subsequent, SequelaA few users have also asked about the properusage of Initial Encounter, SubsequentEncounter, and Sequela which are part of manycodes. Our current understanding is that InitialEncounter is similar to the Medicare definition ofactive treatment, while Subsequent Encounter issimilar to maintenance treatment (or recovery,after care, and follow up), and Sequela relates toconditions or complications which arise as adirect result of another condition.Here are two articles we found about this issue:http://tinyurl.com/nrconflhttp://tinyurl.com/psaepwbOnce more unto the breach, dear friends!In case you missed it, we discussed severalother questions about ICD­10 back in our Maynewsletter, all of which still apply:http://stellarchiro.com/Resources/May2015.pdfYou're not alone if you think the government iscrazy for forcing everyone to jump to this newsystem in one day with no transition period, and

it's impossible to guess justhow much of a mess thiswhole thing is going to cause.If it makes you feel any better,the insurance companies andhospitals are probably just asfreaked out as you are aboutall this, if not more so (theydon't have to deal with just asubset; they have to deal withall of them!).Please let us know anyquestions you may have orissues that may arise and wewill address them as quickly

as possible. October will likely be very interestingfor everyone (in the Chinese curse sort of way),but we're here to assist you and help you getyour claims through whatever may come yourway! Good luck everyone!