Twenty-three percent of convoluted codes were found to be clinically incorrect
TUESDAY, June 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The transition to the expanded International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) system is likely to be associated with considerable challenges for emergency medicine physicians, according to a study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.
Jacob Krive, Ph.D., from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and colleagues analyzed a subset of a 2010 Illinois Medicaid database of emergency department ICD-9-CM codes to determine the accuracy of existing mapping tools and quantify the challenges faced by emergency physicians with the transition to the expanded ICD-10-CM system.
The researchers found that 27 percent of the 1,830 codes were classified as convoluted multidirectional mappings. Twenty-three percent of the convoluted mappings were found to be clinically incorrect, representing 8 percent of the total visit encounters.
“The ambiguity and inaccuracy of these mappings may impact the workflow associated with the translation process and affect the potential mapping between ICD codes and Current Procedural Codes, which determine physician reimbursement,” the authors write.
One author disclosed financial ties to Epic.
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